Normality
by HollowAmbitions13
Summary: A crossover story between 07-Ghost and Bleach, but can be understood if you haven't read 07-Ghost. "Follows the life of Brenna (Brea) as she leaves her world for a year to live a normal life. Little does she know, moving to Karakura town will throw her into another supernatural life full of Soul-reapers and Hollows. Eventual ByakuyaXOC. Story starts at the very beginning of Bleach.
1. Prologue: Brenna

Prologue

Let me start off by saying I am far from normal.

I understand that this may seem random right now, but believe me, this bit of info will come in handy later on. To explain the many degrees of abnormality, you can start with my appearance. Long, white, curly hair that goes rather nicely with my amethyst purple eyes and miniature frame. Just joking. I look like an elf or a fairy straight out of a fairy tale (minus the costume and pointy ears).

Despite the cynicism towards my appearance, I don't actually mind how I look all that much. I'm essentially a younger, female copy of my older brother, which isn't a horrible thing, but I would've been happier had he shared a bit more of the height genes. Being only five-foot-one is hard sometimes! Firstly you can get trampled by pretty much anything; cars, people, ants. Secondly you never really feel beautiful when you're elfin, just cute. Forever cute and adorable. Let me tell you, it gets old really fast. Lastly, the majority of your friends consider you fragile and want to pick you up and put you in their pockets so you are forever protected.

This story has a twist however. I may look all sweet and innocent, but I am fully capable of taking care of myself. I'm a deadly weapon in the form of a petite girl. I can bring men 10 times my size to their knees in under a second. I can take off someone's head with a flick of my wrist. I can destroy villages and commit mass genocide without much remorse. In a word, I am twisted. This is what the military has made me. It is what they now expect of my species. Warsfeil. A human deviate that devours souls and can manipulate black magic. Long ago, the king ordered all Warsfeil to be executed. He regressed eventually and decide to keep a small reserve, under the control of the military, or more specifically Chairman Miroku. There remain only 12 of us now in the entire universe. My elder brother, Ayanami, chief of staff, reincarnation of death himself that had been banished from heaven over a thousand years ago. Hyuuga, lieutenant and self-proclaimed best friend of Ayanami, also a royal pain in the ass with an everlasting supply of sunglasses and candied-apples. Konatsu, Hyuuga's begleiter, who's technically a human, but he comes from a family of Warsfeil's and can hold his own as well as the rest of us. Kuroyuri, a small kid with pink hair an unidentified gender. Haruse, Kuroyuri's begeliter who doesn't talk much, always watched over Kuro-tan and bakes amazing cakes. Yuki and Suzu, the young twin battle sklaves that we rescued. Katsuragi, the old and wise commander that worships my brother. Misao, the kind hearted, breath-taking and oh-so-very deadly noble that married my brother. My father, Ichijo, who passed the powers of a Warsfiel to my brother and I, not knowing that my brother would turn out to be the original source of said powers (for it was death who created the Warsfiel after he defected). My beglieter, Shoujo (Sho for short) who never fails to keep my eccentric self in-line. And then there's myself of course.

The 12 of us make up the surviving population of Warsfeil. To say that we are disliked is a huge misunderstanding. We are despised and feared everywhere we go. After all, who would want to be friends with people that can devour their souls? It's a way to preserve their lives, so long ago we accepted that the only true friends we will ever have are each-other. Still, that never stopped us from hoping that one day, we'll be able to make normal friends. That is what I wish for the most, and as I go on a year-long leave from the military and my world, that is what I will accomplish. I'm moving to a town in Japan called Karakura town and starting a normal school in a couple of days. Let's see what happens.


	2. Chapter 1:New In Town

A/N: Her name (Brea) is pronounced Bree-a just so you know :)

And also, when I say "make men melt" I do not mean fall in love...I just mean that they find her adorable and take an instant liking to.

ON WITH THE STORY NOW! :D

Chapter 1: New In Town

I could hardly control my excitement as I rolled up to my new house in Karakura town. I was very far away from Barsburg now, on leave from military duties for exactly one year. I'm not entirely sure why I chose Japan of all places. I guess I was fascinated by the completely different culture and wanted to come see it for myself. I also felt a strange pull towards this place. I already missed home, but a year long break from Hyuuga and my up-tight brother may be exactly what I need.

I'm set to start school tomorrow after I'm all settled in. School's going to be quite tedious though, considering I finished the equivalent of this high school education about 5 years ago. Oh well, I'll just dumb myself down a bit, good thing I have this hair colour to use as an excuse. If blondes are considered dumb, then people with white hair must be even dumber. Speaking of white hair, you'd never believe how many odd looks I've received since I arrived in Japan. Didn't anyone ever tell these people it's rude to stare! At any rate, back to the present.

I pulled up in front of my new house. It was small in comparison to the family manor back home, but could comfortably fit a family of eight without a problem. it was a creamy white colour with black trim and didn't really fit the classic japanese housing style. It was more western than anything, but I liked it quite a lot. The size alone stood out as well, in the relatively small neighbourhood area. It was squeezed in between a family clinic and a dwarfed family house. As I jumped out of the van, driven by a hired moving man, and walked around to the trunk to start unloading, I saw a tall man with black hair and a doctor's coat walking towards me.

"Hello there miss! You must be new to the neighbourhood! Well welcome, my name's Ishin Kurosaki and I run the small clinic next door!" said, or rather, yelled the man (as he spoke quite loudly.

"Thanks! It's very nice to meet you Mr. Kurosaki." I replied sweetly, extending my tiny hand. "My name is Brea Usui and I guess I'll be your neighbour from now on!" I could tell Immediately that he adored me. The sweet and innocent appearance was always good for making men melt. Also, for the referefence, my full name is Brenna Grigori, however I'm shortening it for the length of my stay in Japan. It's easier to pronounce and far less noble and snobby than my full name. In case you're wondering, Usui is the last name of my Begleiter Sho. As a commander, I'm entitled to have an assistant and believe me, Sho's saved my ass more than a couple of times. I'm getting side-tracked again...back to the story.

"If you want, you're welcome to come over for dinner tonight. I have a son your age and you probably don't want to cook your first night here, right?" He asked enthusiastically.

"I'd love to! Thank you very much. I'll come over around seven tonight if that's alright. Also, I'll bring dessert!"

"That would be fantastic. Well, i should get back to work now, see you tonight Brea" he waved and walked back into the clinic.

I turned back to the truck and stared at all the boxes, waiting to be unloaded. This was going to take me a while. I started pulling the boxes out of the back of the truck and pilling them up on the ground. I grabbed a stack of three boxes (with far surpassed my height) and started walking towards the front door. I soon found myself staring at the lock and the closed door with the three boxes piled in my arms, wishing I had thought to unlock the door first.

"Do you want some help with those?" I heard from behind me. I turned around and saw a boy my age with a shock of orange hair.

"Yeah, thanks! I didn't exactly think this through. My keys are in my back pocket."

"Euhhh..." he paused, looking a little shy.

"Or you can take the boxes if you're too frigid to get that close to a strange girl's butt." I winked.

"I think I'll take the boxes." he admitted before taking them from my arms with ease. I turned and unlocked the door before motioning him to follow. As it was my first time in the new house as well, it took me a while to take it all in. It opened into the living room, with royal blue walls and black marble floors. There was a sofa that could seat seven, along with a loveseat and chair, all facing a flat screen and magnificent gold-framed paintings of snow covered mountains and shad nights. The walls were white, making the contrast within the room quite shocking. The living room led into the dining room and kitchen, also with black marble floors and white walls. The kitchen was equipped with everything necessary to open a restaurant and the dinning room could fit twenty if need be. There was a spiral staircase leading up to the second floor and another leading to the basement. And next to the entrance to the kitchen, there was a hallway leading to a couple bedrooms and an office. All in all, the house was gorgeous and I could see myself being very comfortable here for the next year.

I turned back to the boy and told him that he could set the boxes down anywhere in the living room. He decided to set them down next to the sofa.

"My name's Ichigo by the way, nice place you've got here."

"Thanks Ichigo, I like it a lot too. My name's Brea Usui and I really appreciate your help! I'm glad we're going to be neighbours." I said smiling sweetly. He blushed a bit and brought his arm up to scratch the back of his head. I think I heard him mumble that it was no problem, but I had to strain to here even that. There was a bit of an awkward silence before I mentioned going out to get more boxes from the truck. He offered to help again, which was incredibly nice of him and his offer was quickly accepted. As we were walking out of the house, he finally got over his nerves and started talking to me again.

"So, i saw you talking to my dad earlier. I hope he didn't scare you too much. What did he want anyways?" Ichigo asked.

"Oh, he just welcomed me to the neighbourhood and invited me over for dinner tonight."

"Nice one dad," he mumbled, "trying to hit on girl's my age."

"Oh no, not like that!" I assured him, " He just invited me to your house so I wouldn't have to cook my first night here."

"Well that's better then. you had me a little worried there. I mean, I know my dad's insane an all, but at least he hasn't completely snapped yet." He laughed as he picked up a few more boxes. I took a few as well and we made our way back to my new home.

"So, are you living here all by yourself then?" He asked. "No offence or anything, but this place is freaking huge."

"None taken, but yes, sadly it's just me here. But I agree it is a bit big for just one person, can't say I mind though."

"Well, if you ever want company, you can come over whenever. My family's a it weird, but they're fairly harmless."

"Thanks, I'll probably take you up on that. Is it just you and your parents living there?" As soon as I asked the question, I could tell I struck a nerve. Ichigo's entire personality changed for the worse and he seemed depressed about something. " Nah, it's just my dad, my twin sisters, and then me." he replied sadly.

"Oh, I understand." I assured him. "Back home, it's mainly just me and my brother. Dad's still in the background, but doesn't come around much and mom died a long time ago."

"That's too bad. Mine died a few years back too." he told me. I could tell this still brought him a lot of pain, so I changed the subject.

"So if I need company I'll go over to your house, and if you need to escape your family, I have plenty of space for you to hide out for a while."

"Thanks Brea. I'm positive that I'll be taking you up on your offer really soon." he laughed.

We made a couple trips back and forth from the house to the truck to bring boxes inside. It didn't take long between the two of us and soon I was able to start unpacking. Ichigo stayed with me for most of the afternoon and we really started getting to know each other.

"Ya know," he started randomly while stretching out on my couch, "It's not often I make a friend this quickly"

"I find that hard to believe. You're awesome, so it must be easy for you."

"Not really. I'm gifted with a face that makes me scowl more often than not and hair that's bright enough to warn people away from me."

"Well if it's any consolation, at least you have a hair colour. Last time I checked, white wasn't considered a colour." I teased "Plus, I don't find your face scary, but you should find more things to smile about." He looked a little taken aback. i suppose he's not used to people being so supportive. Poor kid. I understand what he's going through though. With me only having twelve people (now 13, with Ichigo) I could truly rely on, and many people attempting to kill me, I know all too well what being ostracized for who you are feels like.

"I guess you're right. At least if there's an avalanche, people will be able to find me." he teased.

"Oh ha ha. Thanks a lot." I replied sarcastically, throwing a recently unpacked pillow at his face (which he caught with ease, much to my dismay).

"You're very welcome!" he smiled cheekily, "Also, I should be grateful I'm not pocket-sized either, eh shorty?"

"Shut up!" I cried throwing yet another pillow at his face. With his hands still holding the last one, and much to my satisfaction, he took this one right in the nose. "Ha ha, serves you right!"

"Ugh. Why are your pillows so damn hard?" he asked, rubbing his nose.

"They need to be, to do any damage to that hard head of yours."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Never knew someone so short could be so violent." he teased.

"You have no idea," I chuckled darkly. He really did have no idea. Short and adorable or not, you do not mess with a Warsfeil.

"I should probably head home though. Do my homework and see if Yuzu needs any help with dinner." he said.

"Okay. I should probably get started on dessert anyway. Thanks again Ichigo, and I guess I'll see you later then."

"Wait, you're bringing dessert? Should I be frightened?" he asked, making a face, and walking quickly out the door, backwards, before turning back to face me.

"If you don't stop teasing me Ichigo, I'll poison your part." I glared while closing the door.

"Okay! Time to bake a cake!" I announced to no one. "I should really stop talking to myself."

I walked into the shiny kitchen and took out a book of recipes that Haruse wrote out for me. The virtually expressionless Begleiter had a serious talent for cakes. I followed the recipe to the letter and in under an hour, I had a marvellous cake and a huge mess. I checked the clock and saw that t was already 6:30, which gave me just enough time to change, shower and get over there. I decided to wear a pencil skirt and a royal blue blouse, which went nicely with my eyes. I threw my long hair into a messy bun and grabbed the cake before rushing out of the house.

I arrived on the Kurosakis' doorstep at exactly 7pm and rang the bell. A girl younger and to my dismay, not much shorter with black hair, opened the door and introduced herself as Karin. She showed me to the living room where there was a large picture of a smiling woman hanging. I took it to be their late mother. Karin told me that Ichigo was in his room and dinner would be ready in about a half hour. I also met Yuzu, who was busily working away in the kitchen. I dropped off the cake in the kitchen before climbing the stairs to say hello to Ichigo. I knocked on the door with a "15" sign hanging on it. I entered after hearing an annoyed 'come in' from inside.

"That's no way to greet someone Ichi!" I scolded.

"Oh, it's you Brea! I didn't know you were here already." he replied turning around from his desk.

"All I get is an "oh, it's you". That's not ver nice! Watcha up to anyways?"

"Just some homework. It's monday tomorrow and if I don't do it tonight my teacher'll kill me! I'm no where near finished yet though." he confessed hanging his head in his hands. I could tell he was stressed about it.

"Yeah I know, I have my first class tomorrow, but I finished the homework they sent me over the weekend, like a normal person would. I didn't leave it until the last possible second like you." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Gee, thanks. So now you're going to lecture me on normality? Classic." He scoffed. I walked over and sat on his bed, throwing yet another pillow at his face, which he caught.

"What's with you and pillows Brea. I just don't understand. By the way, what school are you attending this year?"

"Karakura High School, year two, class B" I replied.

"Hmph, same as me then"

"Oh really? That's great! I thought I'd have no friends! Do you wanna walk there together tomorrow morning?" I asked excitedly.

"Who said I was your friend, hmm?" he mocked.

"Stop it Ichi, you know you love me." I winked."Besides, if you keep that up,with my delicate self-esteem, you'll make me cry."

"Oh, I'm so sure." he scoffed. "But yeah, let's walk there together. I usually leave around 7:30".

"Sounds good to me!" I smiled.

Shortly after, we were called down to dinner. "Smells good Yuzu" I complimented.

"BREA! Hello there my dear!" yelled Ishin. "Misaki, look! We have a new daughter!" he yeller, running towards and then hugging the giant picture from earlier.

"New daughter?" I asked, turning to look at Ichigo.

"Yeah, my dad's weird." was all he could offer as an explanation. After his grand exclamation of family love, everyone went and sat down at the table while Yuzu brought out steaming plates of rice and curried veggies with chunks of meat. Honestly, it was delicious. We all ate and got to know each other. There were a few, well more than a few, of jabs between Ishin and Ichigo throughout the evening, but it added to the hilarity of the whole evening. Yuzu cleared the plates, then brought out the cake I made.

"Wow Bream it's beautiful! And it looks delicious!" complimented Karin. "Thanks! It did turn out quite nicely" I replied proudly. "Oh, and don't worry Ichi, I decided not to poison your part after all."

"Gee, thank you so much for the consideration." he scowled. Yuzu divided up the cake and served us all. The cake turned out wonderfully and all in all, it was a great evening. I went home around ten, since there was school the next morning. I wished them all a goodnight and told Ichigo that I'd wait outside my gate at 7:30 the next morning. I fell asleep as soon as I got in, barely making it up the stairs to my room before collapsing. I slept like a log for a few hours until I was awoken by a loud roar.

I rushed to my window, tripping over one of the last unpacked boxes in the house in nothing but my underwear. I think I got a cut as I could feel blood, but I wasn't worried, Warsfeil heal instantly. I heard another roar as I arrived in front of the window. Looking out, I saw an enormous black beast with a long tail and a hole in its chest. I also saw Ichigo with a petite black haired girl, dressed in a black kimono, rush into the street. It was then that noticed that the beast was holding Karin. I decided to stay and observe by the window how they'd handle it. Were things to get too bad, I'd go and help them, but I had a feeling they could handle it.

They exchanged blows with the monster, and y "exchanged blows", I mean Ichigo trying to sacrifice himself instead of Karin, and the girl rushing in front of him, only to get severely bitten in the shoulder. The girl limped over to the wall and Ichigo ran over to her. After they exchanged a few words, the girl ran her sword through Ichigo's heart. At this time, I was fully prepared to jump out of the window and strangle the girl who just stabbed my new friend. Shortly after, Ichigo was stabbed, there was an explosion and a flash of light. When everything settled, Ichigo stood facing the beast wearing black robes and sporting an enormous sword as tall as him. He promptly sliced the beast in half and turned back to the girl, who was now holding Karin. After he picked up his sister, he made his way back into his house. Which I now noticed had a huge chunk missing from it. the girl had since disappeared and I turned back to my room, utterly confused about what I just witnessed.

"Well that was exciting." I mumbled to myself. "I should probably call Aya-ni and tell him about this. He's always interested in things involving other worlds. Plus, I don't think we know of this world just yet. Too weird".

I made my way downstairs and to the living room, where the flat screen was connected. I used the console to call home (ET much? :P) using a special face-to-face application the military developed to keep in contact with travelling soldiers. After several moments, I was finally connected, but I wasn't facing my brother just yet. Instead, I reached Misao.

"Hello Brenna." said my smiling sister-in-law, "What can I do for you?"

"Hey Misao, can you connect me to Aya-ni? I've got some interesting news to tell him!"

"I hope your definition of interesting is sufficient. He's not in the greatest of moods at the moment." she frowned

"This is Ayanami we're talking about Mi. He's never in a good mood! But trust me on this one!" She nodded and after a couple clicks on her part, I was soon staring into the emotionless, identical eyes of my brother.

"Hey there Aya-ni! Hope all is well on your end!" I exclaimed enthusiastically, just to annoy him. I loved my brother dearly, but as a younger sister, I felt it was necessary to piss him off on a regular basis. "I'm all settles in in my new house, though it's way smaller that ours. Also, I met the neighbours and even had dinner with them! They have a son my age named Ichigo, who's in my class! Isn't that wonderful?" As expected, he stared at me with emotionless eyes. Slowly annoyance started making itself visible by the crease between his brows and the narrowing of his eyes.

"Is that the reason you called Brenna? I told you only to call if it was important. I'm busy you know." he all but snapped.

"Awe, Aya-ni! Don't you care how it's going so far? And here I thought you loved me!" I paused, sensing him getting more and more annoyed with every spoken word. "You know I'm just bugging you Aya." I told him, getting serious and dropping the fun-loving act. "If you really must know, I do believe my new friend Ichigo has acquired powers." Ayanami cocked a brow, the only sign he was still paying attention. "There was a large black beast with a hole in its chest, that appeared outside after destroying part of his house and kidnapping his younger sister. There was also a petite girl with a sword and black robes, who must have transferred her powers to Ichigo, since after an explosion, he was sporting a sword as tall as he is and the black robes. I called to ask if you knew anything on the subject?"

"Interesting news indeed!" Someone cried from the background. I recognized the voice as Hyuuga's instantly. "So this Ichigo was the one to kill the beast in the end then?"

"Hello to you too Hyuuga. Hasn't anyone ever told you eavesdropping is rude?" I replied sarcastically. "But, yeah, it was him who finished the thing off."

"Many people have told me that, I just choose not to listen." he winked. Hyuuga was a peculiar character. Tall, really tall, with messy black hair, and his eyes were always covered with a pair of arm-less rectangular sunglasses.

"I must admit, I've never heard of monsters with holes in their chests, so I'd like for you to observe these new friends of yours from a far for a little while. Then if you must, involve yourself to learn more." Ayanami instructed me.

"Aya-tan, you should let her make friends on her own accord." teased Hyuuga. I had the pleasure of seeing my brother's eye twitch because of the pet name given to him by his self-proclaimed best friend.

"I'll do as you say for now Aya. I'll observe without being a bad ass and killing all the giant things with holes in their chest, though it doesn't sound as fun. I'll learn the fundamentals, but then I think I'll find out more if I get closer to the action. I won't reveal even a fraction of my full power though. I promise."

"Good. Keep me informed on all major discoveries." replied Ayanami. "And have tons of fun on your vacation!" continued Hyuuga.

"Will do Aya-ni! And thanks Hyuuga! Say hi to everyone for me, don't work too hard, and tell Haruse his cake recipes are as amazing as always and the neighbours love them!" I waved goodbye like an idiot.

"I'll let them all know! By the way, nice underwear Brea-tan!" winked Hyuuga before closing the conversation. I looked down, quickly blushing and saw that I was indeed, only wearing my underwear. My bad. After turning off the television, I checked the clock seeing that it was already 4:30am. I could fit in another hour and a half of sleep before getting ready for school. I trudged back up the stairs to my room and crawled into my bed, reflecting on my new mission. At the same time, I was hoping that I could make a few more friends. Closing my eyes, I drifted off quickly, wondering what could possibly happen later on that day.


	3. Chapter 2: Making Friends

Chapter 2

I awoke a little over an hour later, with plenty of time to put on my hideous uniform and eat breakfast. I don't understand how they thought grey and red went together well. Sadly I made the ensemble class even more with my white hair and strange eyes. After eating a small meal and packing my lunch, I grabbed my backpack and headed towards the Kurosakis'. The four of them were standing outside, assessing the damage that the monster inflicted on their poor house.

"It's a miracle none of us were hurt!" I heard Ishin exclaim. I also saw Ichigo hang his head quietly. It must be hard for him, knowing how injured they all were last night.

"I say it's even more miraculous that none of us woke up" said Karin. I chose this moment to butt in.

"What the heck happened here?" I asked, doing my best to sound concerned.

"Oh hey there Brea, we think a truck must have crashed into the house in the middle of the night." replied Karin. Ichigo still hadn't bothered to look up.

"Geez, I wish I had woken up so I could've come out and kicked the idiot in the ass!" I joked. At this, Ichi tensed a bit and finally looked up.

"It's probably best you didn't Brea." he said seriously, "Plus, what damage could you inflict shorty?"

"Words hurt Ichigo! You have no clue how scary I can be when I'm woken up!" I joked back. He chuckled a bit, and I was glad I could help him feel better for a bit. "We should probably head to school though. I don't want to e late my first day."

"I think I'll hang here a while and clean up a bit. I know I said I'd walk with you, but I'm needed here for now." he apologized.

"Okay, no worries Ichi, but I'm gonna head out now. I guess I'll see you guys later, and best of luck with the cleaning!" I waved, walking away. They all gave a little wave, before getting started on the clean up. I pulled out the map I printed off the internet and followed it to school. I got there in only half an hour and went straight to the office to sign in and get my class schedule. As I walked through the door, a boy with blue tinted hair and glasses rushed by me, successfully bumping into the door-frame and making my backpack slide off my shoulder. The boy turned quickly when he realized he basically just bulldozed a small girl.

"Sorry miss, I didn't see you there" he apologized awkwardly while picking up my bag and offering it to me. "Really, I apologize. I should have been paying more attention."

"Don't worry so much. It's partly my fault for being so small anyways." I assured him. "By the way, my name's Brea! Nice to meet you."

"EIther way, I'm sorry, and my name's Uryu Ishida. Pleasure." he replies, holding out his hand. I shook it before telling him I had better go check in. He wished me good luck and we went out separate ways. As I entered the office, I approached that main desk with a curly haired old woman seated behind it. I told her I was a new student and gave her my name. After she searched through the filling cabinet, she pulled out my schedule and some other papers before giving me directions to the classroom and sending me on my way. I arrived at the classroom with five minutes to spare. After giving the homeroom teacher my transfer papers, I took a seat next to the window. Finally I took a look around and realized I was the centre of everyone's attention. Not only was I a new student, but I had a strange appearance. A foreign air, and I was also extremely attractive and adorable, not to be conceited or anything. It's just a fact. I saw Uryu at the front of the class with his nose in a book, and a boy with brown hair and a huge smile coming towards me.

"Why hello there cutie" he winked cheesily, "My name's Keigo Asano, and I'd be happy to show you around. Maybe we could go for dinner." My expression of complete confusion must have attracted the swarm, because before long, someone butted in to save me.

"Leave the poor girl alone Keigo!" I discovered it was a girl with short, spiked, black hair that had saved me.

"Awe, you're no fun Tatsuki! I was just being friendly to the new girl!" whined Keigo.

"Yes, but your kind of friendly is more along the lines of creepy."

"Thanks" I said to the girl. "Gotta admit, I didn't quite know what to say to that."

"No problem! He can be a bit eccentric and hard to handle at times. Just hit him and he'll shut up though. Can't say that it'll be for long though, he's persistent too." she explained, "My name's Tatsuki by the way, and you're the new student the teacher was talking about."

"Yeah, I guess that'd be me. My name's Brea, it's nice to meet you Tatsuki. Thanks again for saving me."

"Come with me for a sec, kay? I'll introduce you to the others!" she all but dragged me out of my chair, towards a group of teens, standing in a circle laughing. "Hey guys, this is Brea. She's new. Brea, this is Orihime" she explained pointing to a girl with long orange hair and huge boobs." Mizuiro" a short boy with blue-ish hair and a cell phone in his hand. "Chizuru" a red-head that was staring at me with hungry eyes, and practically drooling. She introduced me to a few others, but the main one's that stuck out were Orihime, Misuiro, Keigo and a huge mexican guy names Sado, who everyone called Chad for some reason. They all seemed very nice and welcoming. They even invited me to eat with them at lunch. Shortly after the introductions, the teacher called the class to order, and so the lessons began. First Maths then English, followed by history. In a word, it was dull. But by the fourth period, Ichigo showed up. He was being interrogated by his, or rather, our friends Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad, about why he hadn't been there that morning. I decided to go talk to them, since we has a short break between classes. He had just finished telling them about the damaged house.

"I could help you clean up if you want." offered the giant that is Chad.

"That's alright Chad, I think we've got in covered." assured Ichigo. "Plus, I think we're pretty much finished anyways."

"Well I'm glad to hear that." I butted in. "I must admit, it;s a little worrying moving into a neighbourhood were random trucks destroy houses in the middle of the night."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" cried Keigo. "You two know each other already? I had dibs Ichigo, no fair!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Keigo. We're just neighbours." I assured him.

"Oh well in that case..." he then tried to fling himself onto me, but was stopped by Ichigo's fist meeting his nose.

"Leave her alone Keigo, why are you so annoying?" I wasn't long after Keigo mumbled a 'why are so always so mean to me Ichigo', that the girl from last night appeared.

"Hi there, you're Ichigo right?" she asked with the most fakely sweet voice I've ever heard. Ichigo freaked out of course; jumping from his chair and pointing at the girl. He probably thought he'd never need to see her again in his life.

"I-i-it's you!" he cried.

"Damnit Ichigo, you know Rukia too! You sly dog" winked Keigo, giving Ichigo a thumbs-up.

"No, nothing like that!" he replied, dragging the stranger outside the classroom. The two of them didn't come back that day.

"Well, that was odd." commented Mizuiro. The rest of us just nodded.

The remainder of the day passed by quickly enough, and soon I was walking back home. Before going inside my house however, I went next-door and rang the bell. It was Yuzu who answered.

"Hi there Brea! What can I do for you?" she smiled.

"Nothing Yuzu. I just wanted to come and see how the repairs where doing, and if you guys were alright."

"That's so sweet! The repairs are done and everyone's alright I think."

"Well that;s great news! I should be going though, I have a ton of homework. Say hi to everyone for me will you?"

"Of course! Take care Brea." she waved. I walked back to my house and unlocked the food. Trudging up to my room, I puled out my homework and started on my math. The homework that would've taken a normal teen three hours to do, took me only a half-hour. In all honesty, it was mentally exhausting working on things I learned a long time ago. I packed up my books and got changed out of my uniform before going back downstairs to make dinner. I decided on rice, soup, and chicken. It was delicious, mainly because it was another recipe I stole from Haruse. After dinner, I went to bed and crashed immediately, wondering how Ichigo was doing and if he was still with the strange girl.

"Just what are you Rukia?" I asked to no-one, before finally closing my eyes.

The next morning I woke up and followed the same routine, except this time when I left the house at 7:30am, Ichigo was there by my gate, waiting for me.

"Mornin' Ichi!" I greeted, startling him a it, since he had looked deep in thought.

"Oh hey there Brea." he replied "Sorry I disappeared on you yesterday."

"No worries Ichi! If you had something you had to do, then it's best if you do it" I winked. "I think you should try and get a bit more sleep though." I said worriedly. I took his chin in my hand, turning his head to get a better look at the dark circles under his eyes. "Seriously Ichigo, you look exhausted".

"Eugh, I'll try...but thanks for understanding" he replied looking to the side. His cheeks warming a little.

"You're really not used to girls are you?" I teased, finally releasing his face.

"Shut up! Anyways we better get going or we'll be late." ANd with that, we were off on our way to school. Half way there we ran into Rukia. "Hey there guys! Good morning!" She greeted in her sickly sweet voice. I saw Ichigo tense a it, as if he wished she hadn't appeared. "Hi there. You're Rukia, right? I didn't really get a chance to talk to you yesterday/" I started.

"Yes, and you're Brea, correct? The other new student?" she asked, extending her hand.

"That'd be me!" I grinned, taking her hand and shaking it. Just upon contact, I could tell she wasn't human, which I had already guessed. By the look on her face, I knew she felt the exact same way about me. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Indeed. You as well" she hesitated, her act slipping bit, while mine stayed strong. "We better get going if we don't want to be late for class." As soon as we started walking again, I could feel her eyes on me. In all honesty, it was starting to annoy me.

"So Rukia, where are you from?" I asked innocently, watching both her and Ichigo tense a little.

"I'm from Okinawa. How about you Brea?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, no where you would've heard of I'm sure. It's quite small and isolated."

"Okay then" she was obviously disappointed, but with a place like Barsburg, completely sealed off to new comers, and the human world by a barrier, I didn't think it was a good idea to give any more details. "Can I ask why you decided to move to Karakura though?"

"Well I wanted to get away from home for a bit, and I've always been fascinated by Japan. I can't really explain why I chose Karakura specifically though. I guess I just felt a pull towards this place." I explained. "And you, Rukia?"

"I guess I'm the same. I mean, I felt the pull. It was actually a friend who told me to come here, and now I'm stuck."

"Stuck? So you don't like it here?" I asked

"Oh no, no, no. I didn't mean it like that! Just that I'm starting to miss home a bit, that's all." She replied to assure me. I did find out that after last night, she's now unable to return home for a while. She must have transferred all her powers to Ichigo. By this time, we had arrived at school and were heading up the stairs to class. On our way, Ichigo thankfully saved us from a flying Keigo, trying to give us a "friendly" hug.

"Thanks Ichi! I thought I was a goner!" I smiled

"Awe, I was just being friendly Brea! By the way, I was wondering..."

"Not a chance Keigo." I patted his shoulder, "Nice try though."

"Oh well then, how about you Rukia? Would you like to go out with me?" he asked hopefully.

"Uh thanks for the offer, but I'd rather not." she replied sweetly.

"Just leave the girls alone Keigo" said Mizuiro, who came up behind us. "Hey, morning guys!"

"Morning." Rukia, Ichigo, and I coursed. After we went inside the class and greeted the others, before the teacher came in and started the lesson. The day flew by quickly and soon we were released from the infernal hell that is school. Rukia, Ichigo and I were walking home together when we heard screeching tires. We all looked to the side, where we saw groceries strewn all over and a girl with orange hair, laid out on the ground. Ichigo recognized her immediately as Orihime and rushed over to help. We followed right behind him.

"Orihime! Are you alright?!" I asked looking around to assess the damage. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine!" She said waving her arms in front of her frantically. "The car didn't even hit me! Oh...My groceries!" She remembered, rushing over to collect the salvageable items. "They're alright for the most part."

"But are you sure you're alright Orihime?" asked Ichigo "I mean, look at the mark on your leg." he indicated a huge purple bruise, that had formed on her calf. It was strange though, shaped like a clawed hand.

"Oh my, I didn't even notice that! It must have been the car, but I didn't feel a thing." she fussed. "I should probably get going though, I still have my dinner to make."

"Do you want us to walk you home?" offered Ichigo.

"No, no, I think I'll be fine now!" she assured.

"Well at least let me help you carry your groceries. I don't mind really. I have nothing to do tonight." I offered "Plus, I can even cook for you if you want! I love cooking!"

"That'd be great Brea!" she smiled "If it's not too much trouble, I'd really appreciate it!"

"No trouble at all. If anything, you're saving me from doing my dishes back home." I laughed. "If you and Rukia have stuff to do, I don't mind if you go home." I said turning back to Rukia and Ichigo.

"Well gee, when you put it like that, it makes us seem like bad friends." He scoffed. "But I should probably get home before Yuzu starts to worry. See ya later guys." He waved and started walking. After giving a small wave and a slightly suspicious look in my direction, Rukia followed after him. I turned back to Orihime and took the bag of groceries.

"Thanks Brea, it's nice of you to keep my company." smiled Orihime. "It's really no problem Orihime! Plus, it's a chance for us tot get to know each other better, right?"

"Hey, you're right! We can talk all night and become the best of friends. Also, I can bake you my famous red bean paste cake and watch movies!"

"Uh, sounds great Orihime!" I replied politely. Horror seeping into my voice at the thought of a red bean paste cake. She was a nice girl though, tad too hyper though. But after dealing with Hyuuga for so long, I'm fairly use to excitement. It wasn't too long before we arrived at her apartment. "Do you live here by yourself?" I asked her while we climbed the stairs to her door. "As she put the key in the lock, she hung her head a bit.

"Yes," she replied "I use to lie with my brother after our parents died, but he died a few years ago as well, so now I'm all alone." By the time she finished her story, she looked close to tears. I left the grocery bag on the ground and gave her a hug around the shoulders.

"I'm sorry I brought it up Orihime." I consoled her, "I live alone here too, so if you ever get lonely, you're free to come over whenever you want to, okay?"

"Thank you Brea. That's really nice." I let my arms fall away and followed her inside after picking up the groceries. The apartment was quite small though, much more suitable for one person. "You can set the groceries down in the kitchen."

"Alrighty, do you still want me to cook dinner? I asked her. I figured after a stressful day of school and getting run over, it was the least I could do.

"Only if you want. I don't want you to go out of your way for me." "I like cooking, so I really don't mind." I decided to make a stirfry with rice and chicken. It was simple and fast. While I cooked, she set out two cups of tea for us on the low table in her living room. When I was done, I brought out the steaming plates and we sat down to eat. "Wow! This looks so amazing!" said Orihime with wonder, "I don't normally eat like this. I try being more creative with bean paste and suck, and it normally turns out well. Well it's good in my opinion anyways. No one else will ever eat anything I cook."

"Never?" I asked taking a mouthful of stirfry.

"Yeah, everyone who'd tried it thinks it tastes too weird." she replied sadly.

"That's too bad. If you want, I can try something of yours sometime and help improve it. I can't promise to love it, but if we work on something together, it's bound to be delicious!" I encouraged.

"Really Brea! You'd do that for me! That's super nice of you!" she exclaimed excitedly. "I'd love to try that sometime. By the way, thanks again for all your help tonight. I must admit, it was a bit of a surprise that you were so nice to me, seeing as we just met yesterday."

"What can I say? You seemed nice, so I wanted to get to know you better. It's nice making friends, since I don't have many here."

"Well, it's very kind of you all the same." she said, picking up the plates and cleaning the table. "I'm glad we're friends."

"Me too hime-chan, me too." I smiled. Just then, I heard a knock on the door. I got up to get it, seeing as Orihime was still in the kitchen. I opened the door only to find Tatsuki on the other side. "Oh, hey Tatsuki."

"Euh, hi Brea. Wasn't expecting to see you here!"

"Tatsuki! Come in!" said Orihime. "Brea and I just finished eating. She came over after school and helped me with the groceries."

"Well that was nice of you. Anyways I just came over to say hi."

"Well I'll leave you two to catch up a bit. Plus, I have dishes to do when I get home." I explained.

"Alright, well thanks for everything Brea! And I guess we'll see you tomorrow at school."

"For sure!" I smiled, "Bye Orihime, bye Tatsuki. See you guys tomorrow." I waved one last time before I closed the door and began my walk home in the dark. I made it about halfway home before realizing I had forgotten my school bag at Orihime's, with my house keys in it. 'Nice one Brenna. You can command a whole unit in the military, but can't remember your freaking keys!' I thought to myself as I turned around and began the walk back to Orihime's. When I arrived back there however, I saw a disaster I had never expected.


	4. Chapter 3: Identities Revealed

Sorry it took me so long to update this story, but my exchange here in France has been pretty exciting lately, not to mention that I have about 10 hours of classes a day (including Saturdays). So I apologize to the people who actually read my story (thank you muchly for that as well by the way!) and I will try my best to write and update more often! Now, on with the story!

Chapter 3

When I got back to Orihime's, I was shocked to see Ichigo there, dresses in his black robes with his sword pointed at another huge monster with a hole in it's chest. This one resembles a lizard with longish black hair and a white mask covering it's face. I also saw Rukia standing by Orihime, wait, Orihime was over...There were two identical copies of my Orange-haired friend connected by a long chain coming form their chests. Tatski was there too, unconscious on the ground near the house. Rukia was giving orders to Ichigo in a voice much deeper and grave than I was used to. Must admit, I preferred this voice to the sickly sweet one.

"What's going on here?" I yelled, rushing over to Orihime.

"Brea! You shouldn't be here you idiot! Go home!" Yelled Ichigo as he thrust his sword towards the monster.

"Not a chance Ichigo!" I yelled back, kneeling next to Orihime. "I can handle myself."

"He's right Brea, go home." ordered Rukia. "You know nothing of this. You cannot handle things here."

"And you know nothing of me Rukia." I replied seriously. The beast aimed to attack us, while knocking Ichigo out of the way with it's tail. As it approached the three of us- well four if you count both Orihimes- jaws widening, it met a resistnce. Rukia looked shocked and Orihime awake as one person again. I had created a shield with glowing red and black characters, which served as letters in Barsburg. My shield successfully stopped the beast and Ichigo-who was now back on his feet- took the opportunity to slice through the mask, killing it. There was a bright blue light, and a young man appeared where the beast had lain defeated. As soon as I let my shield drop, Orihime ran over to the young man, who I now recognized from photos I had seen in her apartment.

"Sora!" she cried, rushing to the side of the fallen man, or her brother as I just realized. "Don't leave me Sora!"

"Orihime, I'm sorry for all the trouble and pain I caused you. I never meant for this to happen. I only wanted to watch over you."

"Don't talk like that Sora, I forgive you. It's my fault you couldn't rest peacefully. Every night I prayed for you at the little shrine I made."

Rukia, Ichigo and I all stood around, listening quietly to their heartfelt conversation, but I could feel Rukia's eyes flick to me every once in a while.

"Goodbye Orihime. Take care if yourself and be happy." said Sora before fading out of existence. Orihime has started to cry and after a whispered goodbye, I helped her get up from the ground. It took more effort since the pour girl was dead on her feet.

"So, what are we going to do with her?" I asked Rukia.

"I think it'd be best to erase her memories and put everything back together, to make it seem like nothing ever happened." she replied hesitantly.

"Good idea. I'll give you a hand."

"Hang on a minute Brea!" exclaimed Ichigo, "You have some explaining to do."

"Oh really? And you don't?" I asked, raising my eyebrow.

"Whatever. You mean to say that you can see those hollows and even defend yourself against them?" asked Rukia, "I knew you felt different, but I didn't feel and spiritual pressure, so I let it slide."

"So those things are called Hollows? And what exactly are they? Also, what's spiritual pressure? And who are you exactly?" I interrogated.

"We should probably start cleaning up. I'll explain everything while we work."

We all went inside, bringing Tatsuki and Orihime along with us, and started putting things back in their place and repairing the walls. "Those beasts are called Hollows." explained Rukia, "And they're basically souls of people who have dies with unfinished business, grief, or bad intentions. In essence, ther are corrupted souls who try to fill the vois in their hearts by consuming other souls, be they dead or alive. They've lost all reason or conscience and survive off instinct alone." she continued.

"I understand." I said nodding. In fact, I could see some parallels being drawn between me and the hollows, oh joy. "And what's spiritual pressure?"

"Essentially, it's power. Every soul has a small amount, but with people like Ichigo, they have a higher spiritual pressure, which means they're more powerful. Strangely though, you don't have any?" she said curiously.

"Is that so?" I faked innocence, "I wasn't aware. Last question, what are you? I take it you're not actually from Okinawa."

"I'm what people call a Soul Reaper or I was, until I transferred all my power to Ichigo so he could save his family. Soul reapers maintain balance between the living and the dead, by helping souls cross over and purifying hollows. After we purify hollows, or perform Konso on a normal soul, the souls pass over to the Soul Society, where I come from."

:All very interesting. So I take it you're dead then?" she nodded. "Well that's...different. But if you're a ghost, how can people see you then?"

"I'm wearing a Gigai. An artificial body, in other words." she explained. By now, we had finished fixing up Orihime;s house and we left her and Tatsuki by the table after Rukia cleared their memories. We were now on our way home.

"My turn. What exactly are you Brea? And where do you come from?" asked Ichigo.

"I'll tell you, but only you two alright? I'm not even at liberty to tell a mouse and I'm risking my job and my life to tell you my story, so you two must never repeat this."

"I understand" they said simultaneously.

"I'm what people call a Warsefiel. Another species, which is why I have no spiritual pressure Rukia. I'm basically a dark spirit, that can manipulate black magic, but I'd never hurt you or your friends I swear. I have power beyond your beliefs, but I'm not permitted to use much more than a small fraction while away from home. I come from a place called Barsburg, and it's a huge empire, divided into seven districts. In fact, it's sealed off from the rest of the world, so it can qualify as another dimension, I suppose. If any normal person comes to close to the entry way, they hit the barrier and either turn around or are killed, if they persist. The entry way is situated at the very top of the globe, and in essence, it could be mistaken for the North Pole."

"Wow. So there's no Santa Claus?" asked Ichigo teasingly. He did that to assure me that nothing had changed, and that we were still friends.

"Well, our king has white hair and is well-fed, but aside from that, there are no similarities, and I can guarantee you, we doesn't give out presents. Sorry to ruin your childhood Ichi." I pouted.

"Ah well, I take it that means you're not an elf either then?" he commented, ruffling my white curls. I whacked his hand away and glared. "No Ichigo, I'm not a damned elf!" I growled, "And why don't you ever tease Rukia about being short!"

"Oh he does. I just hit him so he shuts up." he laughed at us.

"Hmmmm, that's a good idea!" I said while making a jump at him. He dodged it however and stuck out his tongue.

"Oooohm I'm so scared!" I turned to Rukia and winked. we both attacked him after a quick "You should be". Within seconds, our orange-haired friend was on the ground and we were holding our sides laughing.

By the time we arrived back home, it was nearly one in the morning and we all felt the next day at school looming over us. I waved to Ichigo as he walked through his gate, but I was surprised that Rukia followed him.

"You're staying with Ichigo, Rukia?"I asked confusedly, knowing that there wasn't enough room for all five of them in that house, and that Isshin would have a fit.

"Yeah, she's crashing in my closet." complained Ichigo.

"Well that won't do! You're welcome to stay with me if you want. I have the house to myself, so you don't have to worry about anyone finding out you're a hideaway."

"Really Brea? I'd love that!" she said, smiling.

"You can have your own room and I can lend you some clothes until we go shopping." I offered. "And that way, my sister can get her missing clothes back!" commented Ichigo.

"Sounds good to me!" I said, "Come on Rukia, we should probably get some sleep before school. Night Ichi!" he waved us off as we entered the house.

"Well, welcome home I guess." I told Rukia as I flicked on the lights.

"Wow" she said, her eyes getting big. "It's beautiful!"

"Thanks! Follow me, I'll give you a tour." I smiled. "This is the living room, through that door's the kitchen. If you're hungry, you have free reign over anything you want as long as you don;t burn the house down an you clean up after yourself. Through that door's the basement, not hugely important though, there's a few bedrooms and an entertainment room with pool, video games, et-cetera. There's a bathroom next to the staris, on bother levels, and the rooms are upstairs." Rukia was still looking around the house with wonder. I just smiled. We climbed the stairs to see the next level. "At the end of the hall is the office and library. The bathroom's there, next to the stairs. My room is right here." I explained, opening the doors to show her my office with two complete walls, full of books in varying languages, an oak desk, leather chair and a black lounge chair near a lamp, then my black and gold decorated room (patriotic to Barsburg, and reminded me of home). "And your room's right there." I told her, opening the door to the dark blue room with white furnishings. "Make yourself comfortable and I'll bring you some clothes."

"Thank you so much Brea. This place is wonderful!" she gushed, while flopping onto the bed and taking it all in. I left the room to get her some clothes to sleep in, plus a few dresses that I thought would fit. By the time I got back to her room, she was asleep. I set the clothes on the dressed and flicked off the lights. When I got back to my room, I sent my brother a message with all the necessary details of the evening. Everything from Soul Reapers, to revealing my history and then back to my new roommate was explained. Ayanami wouldn't be happy with me for blabbing on that I invited a stranger into my house, or that I told someone about Barsburg. Oh well, that was his problem, and i could make my own decisions. This still didn't stop me from hiding behind a message instead of a video call. I finally went to sleep around two in the morning and slept like a rock for the rest of the "night".

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Later that morning, I was woken by the alarm. I showered, dressed in my uniform and went downstairs to find Rukia, dressed and ready for school, eating toast.

"Morning Rukia." I yawned, "Did you sleep well?" I asked while I made my coffee and grabbed an apple. "Do you want some?"

"I slept very well, thanks. And what is it?" she replied.

"What do you mean 'what is it?'? You've never had coffee before!? You poor deprived girl." I teased shaking my head and grabbing another mug for her. I filled it halfway and handed it to her so she could try. She smelled it and stared at the black liquid for a bit before finally taking a small sip and making a face of utter disgust. "It is a little interesting, and takes a while to get used to." I explained.

"It's gross." she told me, still making a face. "Is it one of the drinks your species drinks?"

"No, not at all. It's actually a drink that all humans drink to wake up in the morning, and keep them going during the day. I just happen to like it."

"Well, if the humans drink it, I guess I should get used to it." she said uncertainly.

"Do you want to try adding some sugar or cream?" I asked laughing at her suspicion over the caffeinated drink.

"You're supposed to add stuff into it!? Why didn't you tell me!" she complained, grabbing a couple sugar cubes, plopping them in, and then adding some cream.

"I didn't tell you because, it's not necessary. And honestly, I prefer it without anything mixed in with it."

"Well I actually like it this way! It's tastes pretty good now!" smiled Rukia, drinking more.

"Whatever you prefer. But congratulations, you are now used to coffee." I patronized, while I started preparing two bento boxes for our lunch.

"Thanks a lot. We should probably go soon if we want to make it on time." She commented, looking at the clock on the wall.

"Yeah, you're right." I replied, snapping the lids onto the now finished lunches and packing them in my bag. We then grabbed our stuff and headed out the door to meet Ichigo by his gate. Once we exchanges hellos, we started on our way. They day passed very quickly, possibly because I slept through a few classes, and soon we were on our way home once again. Rukia excuse herself, saying she had an appointment and that she'd be back in time for dinner. Ichigo ad I then continued on our way back home, and he decided to come over so we could do out homework together. "I was wondering how this place would look after it was all set up" he told me. "Looks awesome."

"Thanks Ichi, couldn't have done it without you!" I winked, "If you're hungry, feel free to raid my fridge. I'm going to get changed." I waked upstairs and threw on a pair of yoga pants and a tank in stead of my school uniform, then threw my hair up in a messy bun, before going back downstairs. When I got to the kitchen, I found Ichigo with a bowl of popcorn, a stack of books piled on the table.

"Hey, what subject should we tackled first?" he asked, stuffing more popcorn into his mouth. "How about Math, since it's easy? And I have a random question. Have you ever tried popcorn with M&M's?" I asked. "What's wrong with you! Math is not easy and you put chocolate in popcorn! You have issues..." He commented, looking utterly revolted.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it~" I teased, yanking the bowl from his greedy hands and searching in the cupboard for my bag of M&M's. I grabbed a handful and tossed them into the still hot popcorn bowl before he could stop me, and then placed it back in front of him. "Try it for me Ichi...I promise it's good!"

With a hesitant look, he took a handful before putting it in his mouth. After chewing for a while in awkward silence, his eyes lit up a bit. "You know, it's not bad actually."

""I know right!" I said, picking up my own handful. "The sweet and salty go together really well, plus the heat from the popcorn melts the chocolate, but the candy shell still keeps it's crunch!"

"You really thought that threw didn't you?" he teased.

"I guess so. Not me who came up with the idea though. That'd be my buddy Konatsu back home. He's got a bit of a strange taste for food."

"Like Orihime then. By the way, do you even have popcorn where you're from?"

"We're isolated Ichigo, not retarded." I mocked, "Plus, we do send people out to do research on the outside world. They always bring back cool things. We were just lucky that they chose to bring M&M's and popcorn."

"Lucky indeed." he replied as he popped another handful in his mouth. "Anyways, we should probably do our homework now."

We got down to work, and I finished the 3 pages, with 150 questions in half an hour. Ichigo was still working on the first page.

"How in the Hell are you done already...It's impossible!" he whined.

"It's not impossible, I'm just really smart." I winked, "Anyway, while you finish up, I'll get started on dinner. You're welcome to stay if you want."

"That'd be great! I'll just run next door and let them know so they don't break down your door looking for me." he explained, walking towards the door.

"Okay, say hi for me!" I called after him as he closed the door. I started on dinner, chopping vegetables and washing the rice. I was planning chicken with lemon sauce and spiced vegetables. Right as I slid the chicken into the oven, Rukia came through the front door.

"Hey Brea did Ichigo go home already?" She asked coming into the kitchen and falling into a chair.

"Yeah, but he;s coming right back. He's staying for dinner too. I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not. I have something I have to give him anyways." she replied. "Okay, good then! Why don't you go wash up a bit, you look exhausted." I said, "We'll eat as soon as Ichigo gets back."

"Sounds good" she said sluggishly as she trumped up the stairs. A few moments later, Ichigo came through the door, dressed in his good vibe shirt and jeans. "Smells good Brea! Everyone says hi to you too by the way." he smiles, joining me in the kitchen. "Did Rukia ever show up?" "Yeah, I'll go get her so we can start eating." I said rushing upstairs to get her. When I got to her room however, I saw her passed out on her bed, looking so peaceful that didn't want to wake her. I was sure that whatever she had to give Ichigo could wait until she could manage to keep her eyes open. I crept back down to the kitchen, where Ichigo was still working on his math homework. "I don't think Rukia will be joining us tonight." I announced. "She's dead tired and passed out on her bed, so it'll just be the two of us."

"You say that like it's a bad thing. And here I thought we were getting along well."

"Whatever Ichi!" I said setting the table with two steaming plates of food.

"This isn't poisoned either right?" he asked teasingly, taking the first bite. "You know," he continued chewing, "For someone from a hidden country, you cook really well."

"Thanks. I'm glad you appreciate my alien cooking." I replied sarcastically. After we finished eating and cleaning up, we did another two hours of homework before Ichigo headed home.

"Thanks for dinner and I guess I'll see you tomorrow." he said before closing the door. I then shut off all the lights and went to sleep before ten for the first time in a week.

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I awoke once again to find Rukia dressed and ready in the kitchen. "Morning Brea. Sorry I fell asleep last night." she apologized.

"No worries Rukia. You haven't gotten much sleep lately, so I can't really blame you."

"Thanks, you ready to go?" she asked.

"Sure thing! Let's get going!" I smiled, grabbing my bag. "I'm so happy it's Friday!"

"Same here" she smiled following me out.

We walked to the gate to wait for Ichigo. After waiting there for a few minutes, Ichigo stuck his head out the window and yelled down to us, "Sorry, I'm running a little late! Go on without me, ill see you guys later!" We waved a quick goodbye and started on our way to school.

When we arrived at school, with minimal time to spare, we greeted everyone and dodged a flying Keigo. All in all, it was a fairly normal day. Ichigo ran in panting right as the bell rang and the teacher came in and started the lesson. It wasn't until lunch time that things got interesting. At lunch, Rukia brought Ichigo outside to finally show him what she needed to. I was allowed to come observe because I was counted in on the secret. It turns out she wanted to show him a type of candy with an artificial soul, that forces the soul of the person who eats it, out of their body and replaces it temporarily. She gave Ichigo a small bottle with a duck head, that strangely resembled a pez dispenser. Just after she handed it to him, there was a strange beeping sounds that came from Rukia's back pocket.

"Just in time! Lets give the soul candy a try!" said Rukia, urging Ichigo to take one. He popped it in his mouth and out popped his soul, his body falling limply to the ground.

"Hey, what gives? It must be defective or something." complained Ichigo, now standing in soul form.

"Be patient Ichigo" explained Rukia, as the fallen body slowly started standing up.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, a your service." said the fake Ichigo. "Early to bed, early to rise. That's my motto." he continued, raising his hand in a salute.

"Listen here buddy: Quit being such a kiss-ass" said Ichigo to the fake.

"Enough. Let's go Ichigo. There's a hollow wreaking havoc somewhere." nagged Rukia.

"Well you kids have fun. I'm going to go eat lunch with Orihime." I waved "Good luck!" "Alright, and keep an eye on this guy, will ya?" said Ichigo, rushing off.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever Ichigo." I said to the empty air, while turning towards the fake. "Well, have fun. I never actually said I'd babysit you."

"Euh, thanks I guess." he said.

I waved over my shoulder as I entered the school building again. I had a hunch that that probably wasn't the best idea, but I'm sure Ichigo could handle it either way. I looked out the window while I climbed the stairs to the classroom and saw the fake Ichigo jumping around and scaring a janitor. "Yeah, that definitely wasn't a god idea to leave him to his own devices." I shrugged. "Oh well, what;s the worst that could happen." I finally got to the classroom and after grabbing my lunch, I went and sat with Orihime and Tatsuki. The others joined us shortly after and we all started eating and laughing. It was quickly spoiled as Ichigo, or Ichigo's double rather, jumped through the classroom window, that's on the fifth floor. Nice going dumbass.

"Wow! Did you see that! Kurosaki just jumped up from the ground!" said some kid.

"There's no way. He climbed over from the class next door." said another.

"Nuh-uh, I saw him jump!" the other argued.

Meanwhile, the fake Ichigo was standing on the windowsill, observing the class with huge eyes. "The girls here are all so pretty!" he said with wonderment and hearts in his eyes/ "You're just adorable though," he said turning to me, "and you'll be my queen!" he said, jumping towards Orihime- targeting her breasts no-doubt- only to be stopped bya very annoyed Tatsuki and Chizuru. They were all for beating him to a bloody pulp, when Rukia and the real Ichigo appeared at the door to the classroom. "Hey you! Stop!" yelled Ichigo, before charging at the impostor. The impostor dodged his attacks, and then kicked him into the rows of desks- causing quite the scene, since very few people could see them both- before he jumped from the window once again. Ichigo got up from the heap of mangled desks and chased after him. Rukia and I following quickly after him. We ran after him for a long time, but with him jumping over roofs, we had no chance. He then ran into a huge warehouse, but when we got inside, he was no longer there.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit!" cried Ichigo.

"Calm down Ichigo, we'll catch him." said Rukia.

"No, I will not calm down! Who knows what that freak is doing with my body! Even worse, to my reputation!" "What reputation?" I mocked, nodding at Rukia, who nodded back. "The reputation I've worked for years to make! And he ruins it by jumping through windows and hitting on girls!"

"You mean, he looks and acts like that on purpose?" said Rukia jokingly.

"I guess so. But what's more surprising is that he doesn't want to hit on girls." I laughed, "Would you have preferred he hit on boys like Keigo, Ichigo?"

"No! Ew! Oh God NO! Never!" he cried, "What would make you think that!"

"Well good thing you prefer girls, since he kissed Tatsuki and almost Orihime."

"WHAT!?" he screamed.

"Yeah, and he called me adorable!" I winked.

"WHAT!?"

"That's enough Brea. I think poor Ichigo is going to pass out if you don't stop soon." scolded Rukia, still chuckling a bit. "Plus, we should probably go capture the impostor."

"You're right." I sighed, "Let's go Ichi!"

We then left the warehouse in search of the fake, only to get another Hollow call. Obviously, the hollow was the first priority, though Ichigo wasn't happy about it. When we got to the roof top where the signal came from, we were surprised to find the hollow fighting the impostor. The real Ichigo immediately jumped into the fight. After exchanging bows for a while, Ichigo cracked the Hollow's mask and sent him flying over the edge of the roof, but the fake rushed over and kicked the hollow making the Hollow vanish immediately. However, this also sent him over the edge and left him hanging off the roof. Ichigo, not wanting his body to get damaged, quickly pulled him up.

"Well, your little joy ride is over now." said Ichigo as the impostor stood up.

"I'm sorry I almost destroyed your body, but I couldn't let the Hollow fall on those kids." explained the fake.

"I know, and that's alright. You saved those kids' lives." consoled Ichigo. "I would've appreciated had you been less reckless while wearing my body though!"

'Oh right...sorry about that too. But it's been a very long time since I've had a body that I got a bit carried away."

"What do you mean by that? I asked.

"Long ago, I was created by the Soul Society as a modified soul that could bring bodies to life with special powers to battle Hollows. After further reflection, they found that it was savage and barbaric to make corpses fight, and the project was terminated, along with all the modified souls they had created." he explained. "I somehow managed to make it out of the batch that was to be destroyed and into the remodelled batch. I sat there, waiting anxiously to be discovered and destroyed, before finally, I found my way to you."

"That's terrible" I sympathized, relating a bit to his history.

"It really i..." started the fake Ichigo, but was interrupted by a man shoving a cane through his head and forcing the soul candy back out. The body fell limply to the ground, and the man grabbed the pill. Behind him stood a very tall, muscled man with glasses and a weird moustache, a small boy with a bat and shocking red hair, and a timid looking girl with pigtails, carrying a gun bigger than her. The man who took the pills was dressed in green, funny sandals and wearing a stripped bucket hat that covered his very messy blond hair and managed to shade most of his face. "Mission accomplishes!" said the man enthusiastically. "Thanks for you help."

"Hang on there Urahara!" cried Rukia "What do you think you're doing?"

"Recollecting defective merchandise of course. I'll be happy to give you a refund Ms. Kuchiki." "I don't think so." she explained, walking over and reclaiming the pill. "I'm quite happy with my purchase."

"Well then, I hope you know what you're doing Ms. Kuchiki." he smirked, nodding towards us. "Good luck to you then, and goodbye to you miss." The four of them walked away through the roof access door and left the three of us with the pill. Ichigo then walked over to his fallen body and was re-absorbed into it.

"Dammit! The bastard really did a number on my body!" he complained while rolling his shoulder. "I saw we go home now."

"Here, here!~ It's been an interesting day." I said already walking through the door, the others following behind me. We walked in silence until we reached my house, all too tired to hold a conversation. After I unlocked the door, the two of them rushed over to the couch and collapsed. "God damn, I'm sore!" compained Ichigo once again, lifting up the pill to get a better look. "I wish I could give this guy a piece of my mind for putting me in this state." "Hey Rukia,"I asked, getting an idea, "the soul candy requires a body without soul to work, right?" she nodded. "Then I have an idea!" I said rushing upstairs and grabbing an old stuffed lion I had brought with me. "Would this work?" I asked holding up the small stuffy.

"In theory, yes." she said "It's worth a shot."

I passed the lion to Ichigo and he popped the pill in it's mouth.

"I don't think it works." sighed Ichigo, throwing the stuffed on the ground. "Hey!" we heard a high-pitched voice come from the floor. "What do you think you're doing throwing me around! Come here so I can kick your ass!"

"Good luck with that" said Ichigo, standing up from the couch and reaching his full height so that he was now towering over the lion.

"Hey hang on. When'd you get so big? No wait! I shrunk!" exclaimed the stuffy, observing his pawed hands. "What did you do!?"

"No, the better question is what did you do?" started Ichigo, "I've got a little bone to pick with you for what you did to my body." Ichigo picked up the stuffed lion and started beating it to a fluffy pulp.

"Told you it'd work" I said to Rukia, "So nice to see Ichigo reconnect with his childhood by playing with dolls." "You got that right." laughed Rukia.

"Ichigo, would you mind taking your fight next door? I'd like to get some sleep now."

"Wait a minute," said Ichigo with a stuffed paw pressing into his cheek, "You mean he's staying with me?"

"Well yeah, since you get along so well, I thought it'd be obvious." I explained.

"No! Don't make me stay with him!" cried the lion, "I'd rather stay with you lovely ladies!"

"No chance in Hell." I stopped him, "Now goodbye Ichigo, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see ya guys." he said heading home, while knocking the lion against door-frames, fence posts and anything else that was in his path. "Well, goodnight Rukia." I said walking upstairs.

"Night Brea" she replied before following me up.

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Sorry again that this took me so long and that it's also a fairly boring chapter, full of rants about coffee and popcorn (as you can probably guess, I was sleep-deprived and hungry while I wrote this). I'll try to make the next chapter more interesting and I'm going to introduce Uryu into the story line. I may want to speed up the story a bit because I have a lot more to write and I'm not going anywhere fast at the moment. Hopefully in the next couple chapters I'll be able to have Rukia kidnapped, but at the moment I'm really trying to solidify the bonds of friendship between the characters (this'll come in handy later on in the story when Brea's true identity is revealed ;) But that won't happen for a WHILE yet! Especially if I don't get my butt in gear!)

Well thanks for reading anyway, and I'll try to update sooner next time!

Au revoir~ 3 :)


	5. Chapter 4: Flocking Hollows

Sorry again to the people who read my story! I was on vacation enjoying the snow for the past few weeks! I did manage to write a hell of a lot, but with no internet connection and me forgetting my laptop, it was a little hard to update my story! Anyway, I have about 6 chapters ready to be typed out yet so thankfully, you all won't be waiting for long anymore! Now...ON WITH THE STORY (at last). Enjoy!

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Chapter 4:

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The next morning while we were waiting for Ichigo by the gate, Rukia was telling me a bit more about the mod soul situation.

"So the project was to make those Konpaku or Mod Souls so they had special abilities and could fight alongside the soul reapers?"

"Yes, it was Squad 12 in charge of research and development that created them. They had extraordinary abilities that people claimed were too dangerous. That, mixed with with the fact that it's barbaric to make corpses fight, led to their destruction.

"In other words, they destroyed souls for doing exactly what they were created to do."

"Sadly yes. After that, there were very few Konpaku that were lucky enough to escape. I guess ours was extra lucky."

"I'll say!" I replied "But there's one thing bugging me." Rukia cocked a brow in questions. "He needs a name! We can't keep refering to him as 'fake Ichigo' or Mod soul thing."

"I guess you're right." replied Rukia "I take it Ichigo² is out of the question?" I nodded, "How about Mod then?" she asked.

"Nah, Mod's too cool for a brat like him."

"True, then how about Kon? Like as in Konpaku?"

"I like it" I said. "Let's go with Kon then!" At that moment Ichigo walked out and joined us. "Guess what Ichi! We found a name for the mod soul!"

"Hmm, what is it? Pain in the ass? Fluffy? The lion king?" he asked sarcastically.

"No, but fluffy would've served well too. We came up with Kon; as in Konpaku, ya know?" I explained.

"I guess that works." he said "We better go though, we're running a little late already" pressed Ichigo.

"Oh really, and who's fault is that?" asked Rukia as we started walking "We've been waiting for you all this time!"

"Yeah no kidding! We even had time to pick out names!" I teased.

"Whatever" huffed Ichigo.

"Hey by the way Rukia, I meant to ask you last night, who was the guy in green yesterday?" I questioned. "Ih that was Kisuke Urahara" she explained, "he runs a shop that sells things to soul reapers. He sold me the soul pager, gigai and Kon too obviously". "Oh I see! He seems strange." I commented.

"He is. But that again, you have no room to talk Brea." teased Rukia.

"Gee thanks a lot Rukia." I said sarcastically. She just smiled in response as we continues on our way. We got to school only to find the results from the last test posted. I was in first, Ametatsu Ishida (who I knew as Uryuu; the guy who bumped into me on my first day) was in second, Orihime in third, and Ichigo and Chad fell into the top 25.

"Nice going girls!" said Tatsuki to Orihime and me. We looked at each other and smiled. "Good effort Ichigo" I said mockingly.

"Pfft, whatever Brea! We can't all be geniuses." he scoffed.

"Well you could if you studied a little more dumbass. mocked Tatsuki, joining in. I just nodded in agreement. "You guys suck."

Everyone fussed over their marks until the end of homeroom. Keigo freaked out over having geeks for friends, Ichigo discovered there was indeed a kid in our class named Ishida and everyone found out I was smart (more accurately a genius) and started asking me to help them with their homework. The rest of the day passed slowly though and we were all happy when it was over. As we were heading home however, the hollow detector went off. Almost as soon as the beeping started, it stopped just as suddenly, confusing the three of us.

"What happened? Did the hollow change it's mind and decide he wasn't hungry after all?" I asked. "I don't know." replied Rukia as she stared at the blank screen of her soul pager. " There's no signal at any rate."

"Weird. But I guess that means we get a bit of peace for the time being." jinxed Ichigo right before the beeping started up again. Once again, it stopped just as suddenly as it had started though. "I think your pager's broken Rukia" I sighed.

"Yeah, seems that way doesn't it?" she replied annoyed, "I better take it to Urahara so he can fix it." "Hang on...Urahara? As in the weird guy with the sandals that nearly stole Kon?" questioned Ichigo.

"Yeah, he does repair stuff like this, and he sells useful things to Soul Reapers. Candy to I believe." she replied as the beeping started yet again.

"Hot damn! We better go get your pager fixed right away! Plus, I want candy so I'll go with you!" I explained.

Rukia and I set off quickly, sending Ichigo off in the direction of the last received signal, to make sure everything was fine and there really were no Hollows lurking about. It was a fairly shot walk from the school to the Urahara Shoten. It was hidden behind a few tall building and being sufficiently dwarfed in the grungy little neighbourhood. As we approached the small shop, there was he little red-haired oy bullying the girl with pigtails out front. The tall man with glasses came out and put a stop to their squabble by lifting the troublemaker high up in the air by his collar. Rukia, deciding for some reason or another to get involved, went over and kicked the giant in the back (which had no effect of course), leaving her with nothing but a sore foot and embarrassment.

"Ah, Ms. Kuchiki! What can I do for you today?" the giant asked. "Is your manager around?" she huffed from her crouched position on the ground, where she was holding her throbbing foot. "I think the boss is still sleeping, but I'll go wake him up if it's important' offered the friendly giant. "There's no need for that Tessai, I'm up and about." interrupted the sandal wearing shop keeper. "Hello Miss Kuchiki and her friend. What can I do for you today?"

"For starters you can call me by my name. I'm Brea Usui, nice to meet ch'ya!" I smiled. "Second, can you please fix Rukia's damn soul pager so that it will stop beeping every five seconds!"

"Pleasure to meet you as well Brea!" grinned the man cheesily "I'm Urahara Kisuke, humble candy shop owner that will gladly fix Rukia's pager."

"Thanks!" I grinned entering the small shop with Rukia after helping her and her inured foot up off the ground. She hobbled into the shop alongside me and I took a minute to observe the store. It was a very humble little shack with sliding screen doors and rows of candy. Kisuke led us into a larger room in the back and had Ururu, the little girl with pigtails, bring us some tea. He got started on the repairs as soon as we were seated, making small talk with the two of us while Rukia checked her foot for fractures. Kisuke determined after taking it apart that the was absolutely nothing wrong with the pager.

"Then why did it start beeping randomly then stop five seconds later?" asked Rukia frustratedly just as the damn thing started it's infernal beeping once more. Rukia glare at the screen boredly before realizing just how many signals were coming in. The incessant beeping became more pronounced as more and more hollows arrived in the world of the living.

"My guess is the pager is spot on and we have a wee problem on our hands." I commented.

"I think you're right Brea." said Kisuke "You two better get a move on now if you want to give your friend with the orange hair a hand."

"Nah, Ichigo's a big boy, but those Hollow's aren't going to kill themselves. Let's go Rukia. Later Kisuke! " I waved as I dragged Rukia out the door and started searching for the ugly white-masked beasts.

It didn't take us long at all to find a few, and even less time to take care of them using my zaiphon. Rukia just stood on the sidelines while I sent glowing red-black letters to envelop and teas apart the beasts, It took me mere seconds.

"Wow Brea, I don't think I've ever seen a technique like that, nor have I seen anyone take care of a Hollow so quickly. You scare me sometimes." "Ha ha, sorry for scaring you! No worries though, unless you steal my chocolate, these attacks aren't meant for you!"

"Oh, now that you mention it, there's something I should tell you" she hesitated, "We're out of choco..."

"RUKIA! BREA!" we heard a voice yell and saw Ichigo, or rather Ichigo's body, running towards us. Kon practically tackled us to the ground. "Kon, leave Rukia alone and go check on Karin and Yuzu." I ordered. "Already done! They're at home safe and sound with their dad."

"Good job Kon." Rukia complemented and he flashed her a cheeky smile. All of a sudden, a Hollow flew over the three of us and landed right in front of me with a loud bang, successfully cracking the pavement and throwing my tiny frame off balance. I jumped back out of the way and nearly crashed into Rukia. We both righted ourselves and right before I attacked, the real Ichigo showed up and slice the best right in half.

"You guys okay?" asked Ichigo as he turned towards us.

"We're all fine Ichi, but what's going on right now?" I asked, wanting to know why there were so many Hollows popping up,

"That dumbass Uryuu crushed Hollow bait and now all the Hollows are flocking here to devour the town. It's going to be pretty messy around here for a while." replied Ichigo. "Well he's smart...why would he do something like that?"

"He wanted it to be a competition between he and I to prove who's stronger: Soul Reapers or Quincies." "What's a Quincy?" I asked curiously as always.

"It's a human deviant that have special powers and use them to kill Hollows and protect humans." explained Rukia. "I see..and I take it these Quincies don't like Soul Reapers?"

"Gee, ya think so?" Ichigo replied sarcastically.

"Whatever Ichi. You better get your ass in gear if you want to beat the brat and save the town."

"There's no chance I'll lose to someone like him." A voice said out of nowhere. Turns out the voice belonged to Uryuu Ishide, who I still remembered as the klutz who bumped into me my first day.

"You!" exclaimed Ichigo, rushing to attack him and grabbing him by the collar tightly. "You idiot! Look what you've caused! You put the entire town in danger just to prove yourself as the strongest one!"

"I know for a fact that I can kill all the Hollows before anyone in Karakura gets hurt. You on the other hand, can stay back and watch me do it." replies the blue haired boy arrogantly.

"You think you're so tough just because you're a Quincy, eh?"

"I'm the Last Quincy, so it's my duty to show that the Quincy can still beat the Soul Reapers."

"The last on?" asked Ichigo, astonished, just as a massive hollow appeared next to our group. Uryuu fired a glowing blue arrow at the monster, but Ichigo stopped it and killed the Hollow himself. "Look here Ishida Once we're done killing these Hollows I'm going to kick your ass!"

"That's just what I was thinking." replied the quincy boy.

"They're a lot alike dontcha think?" I asked the other two observers standing behind me. "You said it" muttered Kon and Rukia "Exactly what I was thinking".

"What did you say!?" yelled Ichigo and Uryuu simultaneously. "I'm nothing like him!"

"Yeah, yeah. You guys keep thinking that." I winked "Now get your butts moving and kill the hollows because I have homework to do and cake to eat dammit!"

"Euh, right...Good idea." mumbled Ichigo taking off in the direction of the flocking Hollows. "Let's go Uryuu!"

"Don't tell me what to do Kurosaki." sneered Uryuu, following after him none the less.

With them working as a (somewhat disfunctional) team, the Hollows were being killed off very quickly, but there were 10 new Hollows that appeared for every one they were able to kill. Instead of the hollows disappearing, they were multiplying to unimaginable numbers.

"Look what your stupid bet has gotten us into Uryuu!" yelled Ichigo. "Shut up! The small amount of bait I used could never have attracted this many hollows! There must be a greater force that's drawing them here."

"A greater force?" I asked confused. I haven't learned anything about a greater force yet within the world of the Soul Reapers. Just then, a giant cracking sound was heard as the sky itself was torn open to reveal a giant black-cloaked hollow, taller than most skyscrapers and wearing a typical white hollow mask, but with a long pointed nose. The monster let out an earth-quakeing screech and started stomping his way through Karakura towards our group.

"I say you and Uryuu go and take care of the big one over there and leave these small-fry to us Ichigo" said Urahara coming up behind us with his weird little (or in Tessai's case, big) followers.

"You sure?" asked Ichigo.

"Yes, now go and kill it before it does any serious damage to the town!"

"Right! You ready?" asked Ichigo, turning to Uryuu.

"Like you even need to ask" he scoffed back, leading the way to the giant beast.

Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed back to kill off the weaker ones. ust as Urahara ordered his companions into action, I stopped him.

"Why are you getting in the way you stupid woman! If we let those hollows continue on for much longer, countless souls will be eaten!" yelled the brat with flamboyant red hair.

"I never said I didn't intend to kill the hollows, now did I brat?" I countered "Just watch me, and it'll all be over soon." I continued as my hand started to glow red and the black letters of my zaiphon started to form. Sooner than they could realize what was going on, the long stream of zaiphon took the shape of a cyclone, which I sent off in the direction of the massive swarm of hollows. My zaiphon twisted and grew in size on it's way towards the hollows. It got larger and stretched so that it encircled all the remaining hollows. The glowing red letters of my native alphabet started to condense and constrict, killing more and more hollows as they cut through the screaming swarm.

It was over in under a minute, leaving all my friends wide-mouthed and confused. How could such an innocent-looking girl kill hundreds of hollows in under a minute without any effort. For them, it was unfathomable, not to mention my power was foreign to them.

"Whoa" was all the red-headed brat could muster, as he ate his words about my interfearance. "Whoa" was all Rukia and Kon said while staring off in the direction that the swarm had previously occupied.

I turned towards my friends and smirked. "You guys will probably think twice before picking on me now right?" I winked, "Now what do you all say about going cloder and watching Ichigo and Uryuu kick the skyscraper-hollow's ass?"

"I'm in!" grinnned Kon, "Let's go a bit closer" added Rukia.

As we headed off in the direction of the other's fight, I could feel Kisuke's gaze borring into my back. No doubt he'd have questions to ask that I wasn't sure I could answer freely. His group followed closely after ours to catch the fight between Ichigo, Uryuu and the huge hollow. As Rukia, Kon, the two kids that came with Urahara and Tessai stopped on the sidelines, I walked over to Urahara.

"So what's that giant thing called anyways?" I asked, nodding to the flowing black robe of the hollow.

"A Menos Grande" he replied "It's actually hundreds apon thousands of hollows mushed and folded together to create a super-hollow."

"Interesting" I muttered "And creative if you think about it"

"Indeed. Speaking of creative, mind telling me what that technique of yours was back there?"

"I can't tell you as much as you like, or else I'd be in big trouble, especially since I've already told Ichigo and Rukia when no one was supposed to know in the first place. The name of that technique is Zaiphon, and it's reserved for people of my world. It's passed through bloodlines for generations, and can be used in many circumstances. There are three types of zaiphon: Offensive, Manipulative and Healing. Zaiphon weilders normally only have the one type they can use however." Throughout my story, I watched as Kisuke's eyes widened a bit and he smirked, shading his eyes as my story finished.

"Fascinating" he muttered "and based on what I've just seen, I take it you have an offensive type?"

"Bang on!" I smiled "You're good with understanding weird things."

At that he smiled widely and excitedly, raising his fan (which appeared out of nowhere) and exclaimed: "Why thank you! I am good at dealing with strange things! I'm a scientist afterall!" I'm sure the man would've bowed has the thought crossed his mind; he was a little too excitable and proud. But at any rate, this happy-go-lucky attitude was better in my opinion. I had a feeling he could be rather frightening when he got serious.

We turned back to watch the fight just in time to see the two knuckle-heads get blown away and nearly stomped on by the Menos. I sighed; these two really were hopeless. Uryuu got up first and yelled at Ichigo to get up, but quickly resorted to dragging the boy back up. As his hand made contact with Ichigo however, his glowing blue bow quadruppled in size and strength. I was too far away to hear the conversation, but after a few words, Uryuu ended up having Ichigo's sword tied to his head.

"You still good with weird Kisuke?" I chuckled.

"I'm approaching my limits, but it's an interesting strategy to share their strength".

After yelling at Ichigo to grab the sword, Uryuu was left behind in the dust as Ichigo ran towards the Menos, who started to charge a purple-ish orb from it's mouth. My guess was that Ichigo wanted to kill this thing before the doom blast it was charging could be released. As he approached the giant white foot of the hollow, the doom blast was fired off, straight at him. Ichigo, with all the strength he could muster, sliced through the red beam of the blast, sending the remaining energy right back at it, and effectively gave the menos a deep cut. The skyscraper-like beast tore open the sky once again, this time to retreat back to saftey. Ichigo turned towards us all, panting as soon as the sky had sealed up again, and held up a peace sign in victory.

"I WIN!" he cried out, smiling like a moron...before collapsing flat on his face in fatigue.

"What a goof" I muttered. All of a sudden, there was an orange glow that exploded out from Ichigo's sword.

"His spiritual pressure is sky-rocketing because he doesn't know how to control it yet. He pushed too far past his limits." explained Kisuke, "If he can't control it, his body will break apart."

"I think we both know that's the worst case scenario, and that he has a 99% chance of making it out semi-intact." As soon as the words left my mouth, Uryuu ran over to Ichigo, stood on his sword and fired off arrows to dispel the excess spiritual pressure. Quickly enough, the orange glow started to shrink as Ichigo's aura shrank back to normal. Uryuu then collapsed to his knees with fatigue, his arms bleeding heavily from being torn apart by the strain.

"They're both dumb and exhausted," I sighed " but at least its over for now." I made my way over to my fallen friends and kneeled down beside them. "You did very well boys. I'm glad you're both all right. I think Ichigo won the hollow-killing competition though."

"On the contrary Brea, I believe it was you who won" chuckled Kisuke as he walked over and joined us. "Now let's get these guys fixed up."


	6. Chapter 5: Rukia's Worries Become Real

Well I figured that since it's been so long since I had posted the previous chapter, I'd give you another one in the same day! Enjoy my readers and I' glad you're liking the story so far! :D Plus I really wanted to get this chapter out since it's by far the most interesting so far!

Chapter 5

After Urahara and Tessai patched Ichigo and Uryuu up, we were all on our way back home. Uryuu had left us as soon as he could walk again; refusing to be in the presence of Soul Reapers any longer. It wasn't a far walk from the field where the battle took place and our neighbourhood. Ichigo came over for a bit and we all collapsed on my couch as soon as the door was unlocked. It wasn't nearly the worst battle I've been in, but using my powers on such a large number of hollows with the seal still in place had worn me out. I could tell Ichigo's battle had him completely exhausted and Rukia worried sick. I made some tea and brought out cookies so they could relax a bit more. They thanked me half-heartedly and we just sat in my living room reflecting on the battle and enjoying each-other's company. Ichigo stayed for a few more hours until it started to get dark out and he went home for dinner. In the Kurosaki's household, dinner was at 7pm sharp and Ichigo didn't want to get beat-up a second time today.

He waved goodbye to Rukia and me, telling us that he'd see us tomorrow at school and to get some rest. As the door clicked behind him, I turned to Rukia and saw her worried expression.

"What's got you worries Rukia? This isn't like you." I asked "Is there going to be another hollow like the one today? Is that it?"

"No, it's nothing." she assured me tiredly, "If there was a Menos Grande to deal with everyday we'd be in big trouble."

"Well that's a plus then. But I can tell there's something bothering you and I want to know what it is! I won't have you moping around!"

"Euh, but...honestly, it's nothing." she tried again to deter me.

"You're worried about what the Soul Society will do if they find out that Ichigo, the boy who took you powers, was able to defeat a powerful Hollow." I stated, getting serious.

A shocked expression crossed her face, "How in the world did you guess that?" she asked astounded, confirming that that was what had her worried sick.

"Because I know you Rukia, and I'm really good at analysing situations and people. The only thing that could have you frightened like this is the Soul Society. You're worried for Ichigo and yourself as well."

"You're too observant Brea." she sighed in defeat, looking down. "I have a feeling they'll find out Ichigo defeated a Menos and in effect, they'll find me. Giving powers to humans is a serious crime for the Soul Society, and I'm positive they'll come for me when they find out."

"I understand. I take it you'd rather we not fight them to get you back if they were to take you either?"

"That is out of the question Brea. I won't have my friends getting hurt. I think it's best if Ichigo and I go into hiding until this blows over a bit."

"I highly doubt that's the best option. Chances are, they've tracked your locations already if they're really as efficient as you say they are." I sighed.

"You may be right, but there aren't many other options" explained Rukia, letting her head fall into her hands.

"Do what you think is right Rukia, and I promise that I'll be there to save both of your asses if you get in too much trouble."

"Thank you Brea, really. I know we haven't known each other very long, but I trust you and I could never thank you enough." she confessed.

"Awe! That's really sweet!" I exclaimed, rushing over and throwing my arms around her. "I trust you too, and for me, that doesn't happen too often. I think of you kinda like a sister now actually!"

"Really?" Rukia smiled, "I think I could get used to having a sister."

"As I said Rukia, do what you think is best; but please come back as soon as you can. Otherwise I'l drag you back myself."

"I will, I promise!" laughed Rukia, extending her pinky finger. Mine joined her's and the promises we made to each other to protect and come back to each other were sealed.

"Now, if you're going to go into hiding, you may want to leave Ichigo a note to do the same and let him know what's up. I'm telling you now I will NOT be the one to tell him! I'd rather not have him wring my neck for letting you go."

"Right, well I'll leave you now then, and I'll leave Ichigo a note as well." Rukia walked to the door and opened it for what would be the last time for a while.

"I'll see you soon Rukia" I smiled "Hang on to your house key and take care of yourself."

"I will; and Brea?"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"Thanks again sis." she winked as she closed the door behind her.

I smiled and made my way upstairs to my room before collapsing on my bed and falling asleep for a couple hours.

I was awoken by a frantic Ichigo barging into my room, yelling about how Rukia had left us and saying that we had to go find her immediately. He was overreacting, but I could understand his worry.

"Come on Brea! Get your ass out of bed and help me look for her!"

"Relax Ichigo! Rukia..."

Ichigo interrupter, "Don't tell me to relax Brea! She's in serious trouble but I'll go look for her myself." he said frustrated and worried before rushing out of my bedroom window.

"Dammit, now I have to go find him and explain. Doubt he'll calm down even then, but it's all I can do." I sighed, dragging my butt out of bed and throwing on some clean jeans and a hoodie. I threw my white curls up in a messy bun and yanked the black hood over my head before rushing downstairs and out the door. I ran after Ichigo's spiritual pressure and when I found him, it wasn't the scene I was expecting at all.

Ichigo was standing, sword positioned in front, facing a Soul Reaper with flaming red hair and tattoos on his face. There was another (extremely attractive) Soul Reaper behind the other with a white scarf, white hair pieces in his long black hair and a serene aura that seemed to surround him. I saw Uryuu laying face down, bleeding on the sidelines and Rukia was standing nest to him looking horrified at the unfolding scene. I stood back for a bit, seeing as no one had noticed me yet, and observed the fight between the redhead and Ichigo; and the gorgeous black-haired man behind them who seemed to be doing the same as me.

Something told me that the man with the black hair, despite looking like an arrogant pretty-boy, was not someone to be messed with. In all honesty, he reminded me a lot of my brother Ayanami. He has an emotionless expression on his face and an impassively arrogant air, like there was nothing in the universe that could ever disturb him. Truthfully, if he fought anything like my brother, Ichigo was in trouble. Big trouble. He seemed to have his hands full enough with fighting the redhead as he was already panting and bleeding. It wasn't long before Ichigo collapsed. The redhead stalked over, about to give the finishing blow, but Rukia ran over, jumped on his back to hold his sword back before yelling at Ichigo to run.

All of a sudden, Ichigo's spiritual pressure sky-rocketed and he rose, ready to fight again. He was different somehow, more menacing. He went after the redhead with a vengeance, quickly making him fall to his knees, covered in his own blood. It was shocking really, but I couldn't help but cheer Ichigo on inside my head. Seeing the redhead fall obviously made the black-haired one get involved and with a movement so fast I'm sure Ichigo didn't even see him coming, he sliced Ichigo's sword in half, cut deeply into his chest, took Ichigo's broken blade and sheathed his own, before returning right back to his original spot. Ichigo stood fixed on the spot before noticing his broken sword and before his shoulder and chest started gushing blood from the inflicted wounds, bringing him to his knees once again. I decided that this was as good a time as any to go save Ichigo's sorry butt before the handsome man wearing the white scarf delivered a finishing blow.

"Geez Rukia, when I said I'd see you again soon, I wasn't expecting it to be three hours later." I said as I approached the small group of fighters and removed my hood.

"Oh great, not another one to interfere!" groaned the redhead, standing up and clutching his wounded shoulder. "Why don't you just go home girly. I'd hate to scratch that pretty little face of yours."

"Firstly, I highly doubt you could lay a finger on me; and secondly, I'm not here to fight. I'm just here to save Ichigo's sorry butt from dying of blood loss."

"Oh...Well then" mumbled the tattooed man, genuinely surprised. "Yup, Though I'm not thrilled you're stealing my roommate from me either. I'm just here to make sure Ichi's alright. Well maybe not "alright" now thanks to you, but alive at any rate."

"Be grateful that Rukia stopped him, or the boy would be dead." said the stoic man in a deeply attractive voice.

"I'm sure he would have been; and then Rukia and I both would be upset and I'd have to attack you." I explained, "But I am not here to cause trouble right now, just here to clean up the mess." "And why, unlike the fools before you, don't you attack? Despite the damage we inflicted on two of your friends?"

"Because I have no reason to obviously." I replied boldly, "You may be taking my good friend away and left the other two severely wounded, but no one is dead and I have no personal bone to pick."

"Very wise on your part. I wasn't expecting that from someone that's acquainted with the buffoons laying face-down in their own blood. Renji, let's return now; we have what we came for." said the stoic man, nodding to Rukia.

"Euh, right! Yes captain!" said the redhead -or Renji, I suppose- as he unsheathed his sword and opened a portal to the Soul Society. Renji and Rukia started towards the open light and the black haired captain stayed back and stared at me, looking deep in thought for a moment.

"Girl...come with us." said the captain, shocking us all into a state of utter confusion and silence.

"Umm, excuse me?" I asked. There was no way I was going to another dimension with these strange-

My train of thought was broken off by a voice entering my head. '_Go with them Brenna. Learn what you can about their world'. _It was my older brother's voice that had reached me through our soul-link. He was always telling me what to do; but this time, like many others, he had a point. But that was Ayanami for you. He had to be right all the time or the world would implode.

"You are to come with us, back to the Soul Society." he repeated.

"But why captain?" asked Renji, still shocked.

"She can be used as a witness to both Rukia's crime and the complete loss of power by the boy laying over there."

"Please no brother; leave her be! She has done nothing wrong!" pleaded Rukia.

"No, it's alright Rukia. I'll go with you without a fuss. As you said, I have done nothing wrong so there will be no reason to harm me, right?" I asked, turning towards the captain. His slate grey eyes met my amethyst ones and narrowed slightly before he nodded.

"Naturally." he answered "Let's be off then."

The four of us walked towards the open portal and the captain grabbed my arm as three butterflies appeared. He quickly explained that his grip was to enable me to pass through the Senkaimon by sharing his hell-butterfly as humans can't support them alone. I nodded in understanding, all while knowing it was useless as I would pass through the gate without a problem as I had no spiritual pressure, but I said nothing simply because his grip was comforting, as it reminded me of my brother's hold and also because this captain was really very attractive. In other words: no complaints on my part. I turned and saw Rukia beside me, who had turned back to see Ichigo one last time as the rain started to fall on the other side and the doors of the portal closed. The four of us started walking forwards and very soon, after a flash of light, we were on the other side. We had arrived in the Soul Society.

Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the story as a whole! I know I may have left this chapter off on a bit of a cliffhanger, but I shouldn't take TOO long in uploading the next one. Please take the time to write a small review or comment! It makes my day to know people like my stories! Take care until next time! :D


	7. Chapter 6: Welcome to the Soul Society

Bonjour my lovely readers! I'm really in type-up mode right now, so I've decided to give you all another chapter! Hope you enjoy it now that things are going to start getting interesting :D

Chapter 6

The Soul Society wasn't exactly what I had expected, but seeing as Soul Reapers wear old-fashioned kimonos and use swords to fight, I guess the huge Edo-era Japanese-styled community was a given. To be honest I hadn't given it much thought at all, but I was sure that with my tight blue skinny jeans and slim-fitting black hoodie, that wasn't covering my strange coloured hair or shading my shocking eyes, I was doing a really lousy job of fitting it with the old-japanese style. Oh well, the flaming-red-pineapple-head with the funky tattoos didn't seem to be fairing much better either. Not to mention that the captain with the porcelain hair pieces, white scarf and aristocratic attitude, stood out in his own way.

We walked for a few minutes, every now and then I'd glance over at Rukia who looked close to tears. I had a feeling that her sadness was more for Ichigo and maybe even me, than for herself. Finally we arrived in front of a very tall stone gate with the emblem "1" etched into the huge doors. If my instincts were correct, this would be the leader's building. The guards stationed outside of the gates quickly opened them seeing who it was, and we continued walking forward; this time towards a massive building that seemingly over-looked the rest of the Soul Society. Now I was sure this was the leader's office.

We climbed the stairs of his building and the main doors were opened by yet more guards. We continued advancing until a set of doors with another "1" painted on it in traditional japanese writing. The black-haired captain stopped in front of the doors and announced our presence before waiting for permission to enter. As soon as permission was given by a gruff voice on the other side, the doors were opened by yet more guards. Even though I hadn't given much thought to the Soul Society, I had given even less to the leader. Still, the big old man with a really long white beard and squinted eyes was a shock. This was the man that governed over the all-powerful Soul Reapers?

"We've succeeded in bringing back Rukia Kuchiki, as per our orders." stated the captain next to me.

"Well done Captain Kuchiki and Vice-Captain Renji Abarai. You completed your mission quickly and without much difficulty I should hope." The old man grumbled out. "However, who have you brought along with you?" he asked, his squinted eyes opening a bit and fixating on me.

"A witness to both Rukia's crimes and the destruction of the powers Rukia had transferred to the human." replied Captain Kuchiki.

"I see. What is her name?" the head-captain asked. I chuckled slightly, as the other two drew a blank, seeing as they hadn't bothered to ask.

"Well I'll field this one, seeing as they don't have a clue." I explained boldly "My name is Brea Usui, sir. Nice to meet you." I felt the three other's with me stiffen a bit. No doubt because I had spoken out of turn and informally.

The old man nodded "Your testimony should be helpful indeed. I shall call a captain and vice-captain's meeting immediately." he explained "Guards; take Miss. Kuchiki to a holding cell in the squad six barracks and send out the hell-butteflies to all the other captains, informing them of the meeting."

"Understood!" said the two guards stationed near the doors before they came over to take away my friend.

Before they left the room, Rukia turned he head back to me and I heard her heart-breaking apology slip past her lips, for not only bringing me here, but for hurting Ichigo as well. In her one "I'm sorry" before she left, I felt as if she were apologizing for all the bad things she had ever done to not only me, but everyone.

I nodded at her and smiled a sad little smile so that she knew I forgave her. I knew this wasn't the last time I'd be seeing her. As the doors closed behind them, I turned back to the head-captain.

"The other captains and lieutenants will be here shortly. You are all to stay here and wait." commanded the head-captain.

"Yes sir." the three of us said together. Captain Kuchiki and Renji moved over to the left side of the room and stood still. I took this to be their normal spot for every meeting. Poor Soul Reaper captains, having to stand for their meetings. In Barsburg, there were enough chairs for all the higher-ups.

It wasn't long before there was another knock on the door, revealing a tall man with long white hair and another with long curly-brown hair, covered by a straw hat, and wearing a bright-pink floral kimono. They were followed by a girl with thick glasses and a band with a japanese '8' embroidered wrapped around her left bicep. The men went and stood on the opposite side of the room as captain Kuchiki.

"So Byakuya, I take it your mission was a success? Is Rukia well?" so the hot captain's name was Byakuya now? How nice and fitting.

"Yes captain Ukitake, there were a couple minor interferences that were dealt with easily, but Rukia has been succured in a quad six holding cell." replied Byakuya.

"And who is this enchanting young woman?" asked the captain wearing pink as he came and stood in front of me, grabbing my right hand and kissing it.

"You're amusing...and a total flirt." I chuckled bluntly, earning a smirk from the girl with glasses, and a small laugh from captain Ukitake. "My name is Brea Usui, and I was asked/ dragged here as a witness to the whole Rukia situation."

"I see. So you knew Rukia then?" asked Ukitake, surprised.

"Yeah! While she was in the world of the living, she stayed with me in my house and was in my class at school" I explained.

"Ah, so she really adopted the human way of life when she ran away?" asked Renji, earning a small glare from his captain for speaking informally to the other captains.

"Well at any rate, I thank you for taking care of her while she was there" said Ukitake. "She's a valuable member of my squad; so regardless of the circumstances, I'm very glad she was taken care of".

"It was no problem! It's too bad that it had to end though" I sighed.

There were more knocks on the doors and soon enough, there were thirteen captains, including the head captain, present in the room, all accompanied by their lieutenants. Looking around me, I saw some of them were really weird-looking. For example, there was a giant who had long spikes and tiny bells in his hair, with a hyper pink-haired girl perches on his shoulder; a man with black and white face-paint and a huge hat that pointed out far to the right; another giant captain with a bucket over his head; and a silver-haired captain with a cheshire-cat's grin and squinted eyes, who reminded me instantly of Hyuuga, my mischievous partner in crime back home. The other captains and lieutenants didn't scream normal wither, but in an alternate world, it wasn't too shocking I suppose.

The head captain banged his staff against the floor, calling forwards all the attention in the room and the meeting to order. "This meeting has been called to listen to the full report of Captain Kuchiki's mission. I'll let him speak now".

Kuchiki stepped forward and began: "Our mission to the world of the living to recuperate the fugitive Rukia Kuchiki, was a success. There were two minor interferences: friends that she had made that had tried to save her, but they were quickly dealt with and Rukia is now in a holding cell in my barracks".

"How do we know that these friends of hers won't come for her?: asked a young captain with white hair and turquoise eyes.

"That is why we brought a witness" stated Kuchiki, turning his head towards me. All the eyes in the room landed on me; the eyes of certain boys widening, jaws dropping at my appearance, and others became instantly curious. There were two boys in particular, one with a long blond bang, standing behind the silver-haired captain and the other with spiked black hair and a '69' tattoo on his cheek, that looked at each other, back to me and back to each other before winking and continuing to stare at me. Maybe I should have re-thought the super tight jeans, but I have a nice ass that I like to show off (so sue me).

"The 'interferences' as you call them shouldn't be a problem. This captain left them laying face-down in the street, bleeding and unable to move. He also destroyed the source of power that Ich-, the boy who Rukia had transferred her powers to, relied on. It would take a miracle for them to ever become a hindrance to the Soul Society".

"Thank you Miss Usui, your testimony has been useful after all . You've done well in bringing her here captain Kuchiki. this meeting is now over and you may return to you barracks" commanded the head-captain. "However, Miss Usui, you must stay here until after Rukia Kuchiki's execution".

I nodded, "I understand" I said with a practised stoic air, even though it would hurt to see my good friend die.

"Good. You will be accompanied by a captain at all times and will be roomed in squad six. Just because you've shown to be useful to this case, doesn't mean you won't attempt to rescue her. This meeting is over. Dismissed everyone!" the captain-comander banged his staff twice against the ground and the captains started clearing out bit by bit from the meeting room. Almost everyone examined me as they passed, which made me feel slightly awkward in all honesty, and some even stayed back to talk to me or captain Kuchiki. "If you ever need a break or to catch up on work, I'd be happy to take the girl off your hands for a while" said the silver-haired captain with an even wider grin.

"You'd probably scare the poor girl off Ichimaru" said Ukitake as he came over to join the little circle that had formed around me, "But I'd like to extend the same offer to you and the young lady" he smiled.

"That won't be necessary" cut off captain Kuchiki.

"I wouldn't say that quite yet captain Kuchiki. You have yet to spend some quality time with me, and I guarantee I'll be driving you up the walls in no time" I smirked evilly, "I can be very annoying".

The other two captains laughed and captain Ichimaru said: "Well, well, well now; looks like you'll have your hands full for a while Kuchiki. Just keep in mind that my offer still stands. She seems like fun. I'll be off now, and I hope to see you soon, Brea". he smirked and walked towards the door; his lieutenant following close behind him.

"I'll be getting back to my squad as well and you may want to take time to help Brea settle in for her stay. Take care you three and I'll welcome you all for tea anytime back at my barracks" he smile as he made his way to the doors as well.

I turned back to the captain and Renji, who wasn't looking so good, as the injuries inflicted by Ichigo had yet to be treated.

"Euh, you doing alright over there Renji?" I asked.

"Yeah" he wheezed a bit, "I'm doing fine".

"Well you sure don't look like it" I turned to captain Kuchiki "You may want to get him some help before he passes out on us."

"Not likely, he'll survive. He also has a lot of paperwork to do".

'Wow' I thought 'if he met my brother, they'd get along very well'.

He headed towards the doors anyways, with us following close behind him.

"That's a little harsh, don't ya think?" I whispered to Renji, who nodded clearly in pain. "Hey captain Kuchiki? I know it's a little early to start annoying you, but your lieutenant is injured and won't be able to concentrates on paperwork in his state. Not to mention he'd stain the wood floors and all the documents with blood".

"And I thought the captain was harsh" grumbled Renji.

"Very well. Renji, go to squad four and come back a soon as the bleeding stops. I'll get someone to help Miss Usui settle in" he said in a very unimpressed tone.

"Yes sir!" saluted Renji, mouthing a 'Thank you' my way, before heading off in the other direction.

"My lieutenant is none of your concern" stated Kuchiki bluntly as soon as Renji was out of sight.

"I don't really care, but I saw no reason why he should be soaked in his own blood for the rest of the day. Not to mention paperwork is torture enough without having blood loss mess with your head. Been there, done that." I countered "Besides, he may not be my concern, but he sure as hell should have been yours".

"You shouldn't talk so boldly girl. I do not need your opinions on how I should run my squad" he replied bluntly.

"Whatever, you're not my captain and you're the only reason I'm stuck here. It's natural that I'm going to be a little angry towards you. Never the less, your lieutenant doesn't deserve to be left in a state like that. You loose more men that way and what's worse is that you can prevent it".

"And how would you know that Brea? Last time I checked, you were not a captain of the Gotei 13".

"Maybe not, but I know how to run and respect my squad".

"Your squad? Don't make me laugh" he countered sarcastically (though I highly doubted he even could laugh), "Sports teams and squads created for battle and war, are worlds apart. Your naivety is astounding".

"You know nothing about me Byakuya Kuchiki." I said coldly as we continued walking and finally reached the squad six barracks, where the captain lead me to an unused suite.

"You'll be staying here until the execution. I'll have someone bring you different clothes as well". he stated coldly.

"Thanks" I scoffed, examining my still clean jeans and thinking that I look better in them than I would in a kimono. "I take it you need to get back to work now; and since I have to stay with a captain at all times, I also take it I have to go with you"

"Follow me" he said simply before leading the way to a large office-room with two walls full of bookcase, a couch, coffee table, a small desk off to the side and a large desk in front of the only window that was covered in stacks of paperwork. I took this to be his office and I couldn't help but pity him for the many piles of paperwork he had to go through. No I could see why he insisted Renji stay.

"I can see why you had to get back to work. I'll keep out of your way and read a book or something" I didn't get an answer, he just walked over to his desk, sat down and got to work. It was late at night and if he was going to get any sleep at all, which I doubted would help his cranky attitude, he'd have to finish it all first.

I went over to the bookshelves, scanning to find something interesting, before picking out a boo on the systematical structure (i.e. hierarchy) of the Soul Society. Plopping down on the sofa, I opened the book and started to read in the dead silence of the room. It was a few hours later that captain Kuchiki finished, and by that time I had managed to learn quite a lot from my book. I learned there was an academy for Soul Reapers to learn how to wield their powers and swords; that there were thirteen court guard squads and how each squad had a captain and vice-captain and some had specialities (i.e.: Squad 11 had fighting and squad 4 had healing). I also learned that Soul Reaper swords, or zanpacto, had two forms of higher release apart from the sealed form of a normal sword. They were able to change shape and abilities based on the spiritual pressure of the wielder. It was all very interesting and I'd be sure to relay my new knowledge to Ayanami. Who knows, maybe he'd get a kick out of it...if Aya could still get a kick out of anything. My stoic older brother and captain work-a-holic were seeming even more similar by the second. It was very late (or early, depending on how you look at it), before captain Kuchiki finished his paperwork and brought me back to my room.

"I'm not sure how much good it'll do to sleep since I'd have to get up again for the day in about an hour I'm guessing?" I questioned as I opened the door to my new room.

"Regardless, I'm going to my room. I'll be by to retrieve you in two hours. Do not keep me waiting".

"Of course" I smirked, "Sleep well captain Kuchiki...I'm sure you need it".

With nothing but a 'hn' in response, the proud captain turned on his heels and walked to his room. I entered mine and found it simple beyond belief, to the extent there wasn't even a bed, just a sleeping mat. I had forgotten that traditional japanese sleeping arrangements were freaking mats. At any rate, Warsfeil needed significantly less sleep than humans or Soul Reapers and I should probably contact my brother through the soul-link to let him know they hadn't killed me off because of my big mouth yet. I didn't really like talking through the soul-link though; it was weird having other people in your head. I laid down on the sleeping mat and opened my mind, searching through familiar links and finally found the link to my brother's soul.

With little effort, despite the long distance between us, our souls were linked and his voice entered my head: "I take it you are well?" he asked

"Despite my best friend here is going to be executes, her brother and captain are doing nothing to save her, I'm stuck here until after she dies, and I'm almost positive I'm going to die of boredom if I have to watch the stoic captain with a stick up his ass do even more paperwork...yes, I'm just fine".

"As long as it's not you who's going to be executed, I don't care".

"How sweet of you Aya-ni, love you too" I mumbled sarcastically, "I don't know what I'm going to do about Rukia though. I will not let her die even if it means I have to get involved. I'm sure Ichigo is thinking along the same lines to save the both of us; so he should be here before too long".

"Do not do anything stupid Brenna; under no circumstances are you to show just what you are capable of. Fighting with swords is the limit for now. I'm not forbidding you to use your zaiphon, but I recommend against it. If they see how much power you have and your determination to save your friend, they will not hesitate to put you on the execution block or throw you into a cell and run tests on you".

"I'll lay low for now, seeing as I saw the creepy scientist at the captain's meeting and I'm going no where near him. I'll learn what I can while I'm here and maybe make some friends while I'm at it".

"Don't let your guard done while you're there Brenna and wait for the boy to get there before planning any extreme rescue missions".

"Aye, aye, Aya-ni! Oh and I met a captain who reminded me a lot of you here! He works like crazy, seems very strong but shows no emotion. I think I'll have a lot of fun annoying him".

"Just don't get killed".

"Yeah, yeah. I'm going to break the connection, but I'll keep you up to date. I have a strong feeling things will be interesting here. Say hi to all the others for me and take care of yourself Ayanami".

"Goodbye Brenna". he replied before cutting the connection between our souls. He may seem a little cold, not offering much information or advice; but that was Ayanami, and it was a hell of a lot more than other people around him got. I guess being his little sister helped some.

I spent the remaining time before captain Kuchiki came to get me reminiscing about the times Rukia and I had spent together. Like when we made cookies and Rukia ate more than half the batch since she had never had them before and found them delicious. There were also Keigo's constant attempts at hugging us, me trying to give Rukia drawing lessons and failing, all the little jabs we gave to Ichigo, and then just having her company in my house that was so far away from my real home. Rukia had made my choice to come to Japan while on leave worthwhile, and her and Ichigo were some of my first 'normal' friends I had ever been able to make. With them there was no paperwork, stress of titles, or having to keep my emotions in check; it was just simple friendships that I had grown very attached to, and there was no way in hell I'd let them end. There was no way in hell I'd let her die.

A/N: Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter! What did you think about the tension between Byakuya and Brenna? They both have strong characters so they'll be arguing over certain things quite a lot. I know Brea can be a brat sometimes, but after having to keep her emotions in check most of her life, while she's on break, she's letting herself say what she really feels. They may seem fairly distant now, but they'll get to know each other soon enough ;) But for that, you'll have to keep reading! See you soon and feel free to write a review!


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